By TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech men's and women's golf teams are among those receiving Public Recognition Awards Wednesday from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for top academic performance. The awards are presented to teams scoring in the top 10 percent nationally in the Multi-Year Academic Progress Rate (APR), which is part of the NCAA's academic reform program.
"Each year when this information is released, I can't help but to beam with pride because of the continued academic success achieved by all of our teams," said Tech Director of Athletics Mark Wilson. "I was excited to see both our men's and women's golf teams were selected to receive Public Recognition Awards for their outstanding work, as it shows we are successfully fulfilling our goals toward our student-athletes.
"Coach [Polk] Brown, his staff and all of the student-athletes should be honored and I want to congratulate them all on this great achievement. This just goes to show that when our students enter Tennessee Tech, they come in better prepared and stay on track to earn their degrees."
This marks the third straight year that the Golden Eagle men's golf team has earned the honor. It represents the first Public Recognition Award for the women's golf team. Coach Brown spoke about the honors for each team.
"I am very excited to see our young men and women recognized by the NCAA for their academic accomplishments," he said. "It's truly amazing what our student-athletes accomplish year-in and year-out. We always stress to our players that the most important thing for them to understand is that when they arrive at Tennessee Tech, they are here to earn their degree before anything else.
"These honors prove they understand that the expectation is they need to perform in the classroom before they can do anything on the golf course. They know the importance of going to class, putting in the work and achieving at a high level. These honors are a testament to their ability to balance the student-athlete lifestyle. It is also important that we recognize everyone in our academic support system here at Tech. Their work with our student-athletes is second to none and we all appreciate everything they do."
Each year, the NCAA honors select Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multiyear NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR). This announcement is part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams that demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports. Specifically, these teams posted multiyear APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport.
The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester or quarter by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.
The APR awards two points each term to student-athletes who meet academic eligibility standards and who remain with the institution. A team's APR is the total points earned by the team at a given time divided by the total points possible, multiplied by 1,000. It includes four years (this year's numbers included the school years of 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18).
Tech was among 11 OVC schools that produced award winners in a sport. Tech joined UT Martin as the only public institutions in the state whose men's golf team was honored. The Golden Eagle women's golf team was one of seven in-state, public universities to collect the honor.
"It goes without saying that our student-athletes have done an incredible job in focusing on academics," Wilson said, "but I would be remiss not to recognize the marvelous work behind the scenes from our coaches and [Assistant Athletic Director for Academics and Student Welfare] Leveda Dexter and her staff, including our academic advisors Ashlee Kiser, Virginia Lewis and Cody Matthews. They never stop working at developing programs that provide the necessary support and direction to assist our student-athletes in achieving at the highest levels."
APRs for all Division I teams will be released May 8. The APR is an annual scorecard of academic achievement calculated for all Division I sports teams nationally. Teams must meet a certain academic threshold to qualify for the postseason and can face penalties for continued low academic performance.
