Tennessee Tech Athletics outperform NCAA APR benchmark for 14th-consecutive year

By TTU Sports Information

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

The minimum APR academic standard for each team is 930. Typically, teams that scored below the benchmark would have to face penalties that encourage an emphasis and prioritization on academics.

This is the third year of publicly reported APRs after a one-year COVID-19 hiatus. In 2022, the Division I board approved the release of APR scores but voted to continue the suspension of program penalties. After further review, the Committee on Academics is not enforcing the loss of access to postseason competition for teams that have scored lower than 930. Instead, a conditional waiver is being offered this year due to lingering impacts of COVID-19.

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 well in comparison with its peers throughout the Ohio Valley Conference and among four-year institutions in the state of Tennessee.

Four Golden Eagle teams ranked in the top three in the Ohio Valley Conference, paced by first-place showings from the women's golf, soccer, and volleyball teams. The Tech football team turned in a second-place finish in the Big South-Ohio Valley Conference, making it five TTU programs in the top three of their respective leagues. Sporting perfect scores of 1000 were the women's golf, soccer, and volleyball programs. 

Football's mark of 977 ranked second in its league while the Tech women's basketball team's APR of 991 tied for the third-best score in the OVC. 

Among four-year, public institutions within the state, seven Golden Eagle teams ranked among the top five scores. The women's basketball and soccer teams earned the top spot in the state of Tennessee among public schools outright while women's golf and volleyball all tied for first.

Women's basketball, women's golf, soccer, and volleyball also tied for the best among all state institutions while football ranked second. Among just public programs, football finished second while the trio of men's basketball, men's golf, and women's track & field were each fourth in the state.

"We take immense pride in the academic success of all of our teams, and these APR rates continue to verify that we are successfully fulfilling our mission for our student-athletes," Tech Director of Athletics Mark Wilson said. "We have an incredible academic support system, led by [Assistant Athletic Director for Academics and Student-Athlete Welfare] Dr. Leveda Birdwell and her staff of Dr. Samantha Bates, Virginia Lewis, and Kara Phillips, as well as a stellar University faculty. Our student-athletes and coaches work closely with them to achieve the very best of their abilities, and our APR numbers speak to the diligence of everyone involved."

Eight of Tech's 14 athletic programs (not counting beach volleyball as the NCAA requires two years of data to be available) turned in the same APR or improved upon their scores from last year's results. 

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 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 academic years.

"These results point to the fact that our student-athletes and our staff continue to take seriously our goal of stressing the importance of academic success," Wilson said. "Our student-athletes are coming in better prepared when they enter Tennessee Tech, and they are staying on track to earn their degrees."

Tennessee Tech's 2023 Multi-Year APR Rates

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