INDIANAPOLIS — NCAA president Myles Brand wants college teams concerned as much about academic scores as final scores. If they aren’t, they might be barred from NCAA tournaments.
Brand warned the underachievers Tuesday they could get hit with the NCAA’s harshest sanctions — fewer scholarships, reductions in practice and even a postseason ban. Nearly 150 teams face potential scholarship losses and another 26 are on the brink of a postseason ban because of poor academics.
“Academic reform is here to stay, and those penalties resemble what we give for major infractions. So these are serious penalties and there are a number of teams that received those,” Brand said after releasing this year’s Academic Progress Report. “Yes, there are individual institutions who have seen a steady decline (academically) over the last four years, and for them, the situation is dire.”
Overall scores improved by four points since the NCAA began collecting data in 2003. Scores are also up in 26-of-29 sports over the last four years, and fewer teams were penalized than even NCAA officials expected last year. One reason was the substantial academic improvement made by baseball and football players. Those sports increased their average scores by 12 and 11 points since 2003, respectively, which equate to graduation rates in the mid-60s.
