Today, the NCAA passed legislation very un-NCAA like:  in quick fashion. Just one day after a presidential retreat, its Board of Directors passed a new rule, phased in over a few years, that would make any team ineligible for post-season play (and the revenues that go along with it, obviously) if the team was not on-track to graduate at least half of its players. This is something that has been LONG endorsed by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics going back 10 years or more.  The Knight Commission is a non-profit group advocating intercollegiate athletics reform and proper balance of athletics within higher education. The NCAA, however, uses a formula, called the Academic Progress Rate (APR) which tracks academic eligibility of every athlete, and  every team, on a term-by-term basis: awarding one point for staying in school (or graduating), and one point for remaining academically eligible both  at the institution and via the NCAA’s minimal academic expectations but rigid progress-toward-degree requirements (minimum # of credit hours passed each year).  An annual APR score is then averaged over a four-year period for the current APR score, which will be used in this instance.  A 930 score equates to about a 50 percent graduation rate.  A 1000 score is perfect.

So, the ES decided to look at MSU and other Big Ten schools and their 2011 APR scores (based on the 2009-2010 academic year) in men’s basketball and football, and… if this rule were in effect this year, who would be affected in the upcoming 2011-2012 academic year?  Well… here are the numbers:

Michigan State is fine: matter of fact, all of MSU’s 20+ athletic teams are above 930.  Just two Big Ten schools in football or men's basketball would be impacted:  the Wolvies in football (928) and Indiana in men’s basketball (929).  Mind you, this will be phased in, so these schools have some time to put in the resources (or recruit athletes with better expectation they will remain academically eligible) to improve their scores.  But, the Big Ten looks pretty solid compared to other conferences.    

The ES won’t get into details about some of the dirty little secrets allowing teams to have exemptions for certain players.  But, the NCAA may take that on next as part of their reform effort.  

Interesting times as we head into football season.