WACO, TX — Eight of 15 Baylor University athletics programs tracked by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) improved upon their Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores from the previous year, the governing body announced recently.
Eight teams, including women’s basketball, men’s golf, men’s tennis, men’s cross country, men’s track, women’s track, women’s volleyball and women’s cross country registered perfect one-year APR scores of 1,000, doubling the total from last year.
Men’s golf also received the NCAA Public Recognition Award for an APR of 1,000. The NCAA annually honors teams earning multi-year Academic Progress Rates in the top 10 percent of squads in each sport.
Men’s tennis improved the most from last year’s single-year score, jumping up 50 points to have a perfect score of 1,000, followed by women’s basketball women’s cross country and men’s cross country who were up by 19 points.
The 2017-18 overall four-year rate is 985, up three points from the four-year rate announced last year. 13 of 15 eligible teams have a multi-year rate of 975 or higher (non-NCAA sports not included in the metric). The four-year rate for baseball took the biggest jump, improving 15 points from last year to 990, while football wasn’t far behind, improving 12 points 976. Men’s basketball also took a big leap, sitting at 976, nine points above last year’s four-year rate.
Men’s basketball (976) and football (976) have the highest multi-year rate amongst Power 5 schools in Texas.
Likewise, Baylor has five programs with the highest multi-year rate in the Big 12 with men’s track, women’s soccer, baseball, men’s golf and softball.
The Bears four-year numbers in football (976), men’s basketball (976) and baseball (990) are higher than the national rates of 964, 967 and 976 for each sport, respectively.
No Baylor program has ever been subject to penalty.
The APR, created to be a more real-time measurement of academic success than graduation rates, is a team-based metric through which scholarship student-athletes each term earn one point for remaining eligible and one point for staying in school or graduating. At schools that don't offer scholarships, recruited student-athletes are tracked.
To compete in the 2019-20 postseason, teams must achieve a 930 four-year APR. NCAA members chose the 930 standard because that score predicts, on average, a 50% graduation rate for teams at that APR level. Additionally, teams must earn at least a 930 four-year APR to avoid penalties.
