Tech Athletics exceeds NCAA APR benchmark for 12th-straight year

By TTU Sports Information

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – All 14 of Tennessee Tech's athletic teams have once again comfortably exceeded the national APR standards set by the NCAA for the 12th consecutive year. The APR standard is a benchmark to determine how an athletics program is meeting the mission of educating its student-athletes.

The public announcement of APRs returned after a one-year hiatus. This spring, the Division I Board of Directors approved the continual suspension of APR penalties for an additional year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it supported the public release of the APR data.

The numbers were announced Tuesday 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, but seven teams also met or finished higher than 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.

Five Golden Eagle teams ranked in the top three in the Ohio Valley Conference, paced by first-place showings from the men's cross country, football, tennis, and women's golf teams. Sporting perfect scores of 1000 were the men's cross country, tennis, and women's golf programs. 

Football's mark of 964 led the league while the Tech women's basketball team's APR of 996 represented the second-best in the OVC. 

Among four-year, public institutions within the state, six Golden Eagle teams ranked among the top five scores. The men's cross country, tennis, and women's golf team all tied for the top spot in the state of Tennessee, both overall and in the public system. Women's basketball boasted the second-best mark in the state, football turned in the third-best, and men's basketball delivered the fourth-best APR. 

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 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020-21 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 2021 Multi-Year APR Rates

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