Every Golden Eagle athletic team exceeds NCAA APR benchmark for ninth straight year

By TTU Sports Information

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Make it nine consecutive years that all 14 of Tennessee Tech's athletic teams have comfortably exceeded the national APR standard, a benchmark to determine how an athletics program is meeting the mission of educating its student-athletes.

In simplest terms, Tech's more than 300 student-athletes are staying in school, remaining eligible, and making progress toward their degrees.

The numbers were announced Wednesday in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR), an annual report from the NCAA.

Not only did Tech's teams all achieve the benchmark, seven teams beat the national average. Tech also fared extremely well in comparison with its peers throughout the Ohio Valley Conference and among four-year institutions in the state of Tennessee.

Seven Golden Eagle teams ranked in the top five in the Ohio Valley Conference, paced by the men's golf and women's cross country teams, which ranked first in the league with perfect marks of 1000. Among four-year, public institutions within the state, five Golden Eagle teams ranked among the top three scores.

Every Division I institution calculates the APR of each team each academic year, based on the eligibility, graduation and retention of each scholarship student-athlete. Teams scoring below certain thresholds can face consequences, such as practice restrictions and restrictions on postseason competition. The current multi-year rates are based on the past four years' performances. The most recent APRs are based on the scores from the 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 academic years.
 
"Success in our APR numbers speaks to the diligence of our student-athletes, our coaches and our academic support system and personnel, as well as the outstanding work by the faculty of Tennessee Tech," said Mark Wilson, Director of Athletics. "Our student-athletes are coming in better prepared when they enter Tennessee Tech, and they are staying on track to earn their degrees. We take a great deal of pride in the academic success of all our teams, and these APR rates verify, once again, that we are successfully fulfilling our mission toward our student-athletes.

"These kinds of APR numbers point out that our student-athletes and our staff continue to take seriously our goal of stressing the importance of academic success," Wilson said.

Tennessee Tech's 2017 Multi-Year APR Rates

Note: The NCAA expected standard APR score for a team's multi-year rate is 930