Low APR numbers may lead to fewer Div. I transfers

By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor

Title IX’s proportionality problem isn’t the only set of numbers haunting college wrestling coaches. Now there is the threat of the APR.

            The acronym, which stands for Academic Progress Rating, was introduced by the NCAA in February 2005 as a means of judging the academic success and failures of Div. I programs in this country … and eventually penalizing those programs that fail to meet a prescribed standard.         

            The NCAA has established the number 925 as a standard for all Div. I programs to meet and that APR number basically is a percentage of athletes, who stay academically eligible and/or do not transfer, out of the total number of athletes in the program. The NCAA has determined the APR number of 925 also equates to a 60 percent graduation rate and if programs fail to meet that standard, they could lose as much as one scholarship for a year.

            The impact of the APR is finally being felt by programs … and wrestling may suffer more than most.  According the NCAA statistics, compiled over the 2003-04 and 2004-05 academic years and released in March 2006, the sport of wrestling ranked fourth from the bottom of men’s sports — only basketball, football and baseball ranked worse — with an average APR score 935.

            And to make matters worse, only 18 of 84 Div. I wrestling programs ranked in the top 50 percentile of all athletic programs and 27 ranked below the 925 standard. But because the NCAA must wait until it has data from 2005-06 and 2006-07, it has set squad size adjustments and only those programs with “0 for 2” athletes — those who have left school and are academically ineligible — are currently subject to penalties.

            Currently, there are eight programs that are subject to losing the value of one scholarship: Clarion (870 APR), Campbell University (860), Eastern Illinois (851), Fresno State (871), Tennessee-Chattanooga (886), Rutgers (879), VMI (849) and West Virginia (867). (Fresno State announced in June that it was dropping wrestling this year.)

            Were wrestling coaches ready for such a drastic ruling?

            “They will understand once they see all these sports getting hit with it and as soon as they start seeing that it’s for real and see that they are not fully funded,” said Chris Bono, who was recently named the head coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga.

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