By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – As the Spring 2021 semester draws to a close, so ends another excellent academic semester for Tennessee Tech's student-athletes. As classes continued in their hybrid, distance and in-person setting, the composite GPA for Tech's 14 teams stands as a stellar 3.346.
With the exception of the Spring 2020 semester, that mark is the highest recorded GPA for Tech's student-athletes. It also stands as the 25th straight semester that Tech Athletics' cumulative GPA exceeds the 3.0 plateau.
"I am extremely proud of our student-athletes' academic success this semester as we continued to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Tech Assistant Athletic Director for Academics and Student Welfare Dr. Leveda Birdwell. "Not only did all of our student-athletes compete in their respective sports this semester, they also saw great success in the classroom, which is ultimately what being a student-athlete is all about."
Under the guidance of their coaching staffs and the Tech Athletics Academic Advising Staff during what has been a difficult and trying time, 11 of Tech's 14 teams reported GPA's above 3.0, while seven teams saw improvement from their Fall 2020 grades.
"We know that this has been a tough year for many of our student-athletes, coaches and staff," said Tech Director of Athletics Mark Wilson. "To see our student-athletes continue to push past any adversity and keep working hard is a testament to everyone involved – the University faculty that teach our young men and women, our Athletics Academic Advising staff to keep them focused and the coaches who guide them.
"It takes a lot of people to help these student-athletes along the way and graduate with a championship ring on one hand and a diploma on the other. We couldn't accomplish that without their support."
Tennis led the way with a 3.725, just percentage points off of its team-record 3.79 GPA set last semester. Softball collected a program-best 3.722, its top performance since the figures have been studied. Volleyball finished its 42nd straight semester – 21 consecutive years -- with a team GPA over 3.0 with a 3.637 mark.
Volleyball isn't the only Tech team with an impressive streak of academic success – Soccer (3.517) has gone 35 straight semesters, Softball and Women's Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field (3.198) have both gone 34 straight semesters, while Tennis has 26, Women's Cross Country (3.612) has 18 and Women's Golf (3.373) has 16.
In addition to the above teams, Baseball (3.131), Women's Basketball (3.513) and Men's Cross Country (3.456) also collected higher than 3.0 GPAs. Women's Basketball's mark exceeds all but the 3.753 the program set in Spring 2020, while Baseball collected its eight straight semester and Men's Cross Country its 11th.
