By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech student-athletes posted impressive scores in the latest Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) reports, released Wednesday afternoon by the NCAA. Tech has not only maintained a high level of success in the school's graduation rates overall, but the student-athlete graduation rates also continue to rank higher than those for the general TTU student body.
The current report gives graduation information about students and student-athletes entering in 2017. This is the most recent graduating class for which the required six years of information is available.
"We are proud that our student-athletes and coaches continue to make academic success a top priority," said Mark Wilson, TTU Director of Athletics, "and they understand the important role that athletics plays in serving the university and the surrounding community."
With an 88, Tech posted a GSR of 80 or higher for the 10th straight year and 11th time in the past 12 years. The 88 marked the second-highest GSR for Tennessee Tech since the NCAA started reporting the information, matching last year's 88 and trailing only 2022's 89.
The numbers shed light on how well Tech compares with other public institutions within the state, with schools in the Ohio Valley Conference, and nationally when compared with all Division I programs. The impressive GSR mark of 88 displays the continued and sustained growth by Golden Eagle student-athletes over the past several years. Tech ranked tied for fourth in the state among public institutions in GSR.
The GSR and FGR numbers of Tech's student-athletes continue to shine when compared with the numbers for the general student body. Seven of Tech's 14 athletic programs (beach volleyball does not appear in the rankings yet due to just starting at Tech in 2022-23) received a higher FGR than Tech's general student body graduation rate, while one more matched the number.
What makes the result for Golden Eagle student-athletes even more impressive, is the fact that Tennessee Tech's general student body easily boasted the second-highest graduation rate among all Division I public institutions in the state, finishing behind only the University of Tennessee.
"The results of this most recent NCAA report speak to the diligence of our student-athletes," Wilson said. "Our students are coming in better prepared when they enter Tennessee Tech, and they are staying on track to earn their degrees."
Tennessee Tech has a GSR of 88 for the six-year period tracking students who entered in 2017. The school's GSR was 79 in 2012, 80 in 2013, 79 in 2014, 81 in 2015, 83 in 2016, 85 in both 2017 and 2018, 87 in 2019, 84 in 2020, 85 in 2021, 89 in 2022, and 88 in 2023.
"We never take these numbers for granted, and once again we are extremely proud of the results," Wilson said. "Tennessee Tech's student-athletes continue to do a tremendous job in balancing the rigorous demands of both academics and athletics."
The women's golf team achieved a rank of 100 on both the GSR and FGR for the fourth straight year and the fourth time in history. For the fifth consecutive year, the volleyball team delivered a GSR mark of 100, the 12th time overall for the volleyball program achieving a perfect 100. The women's basketball team earned its third GSR score of 100 in program history as well.
The tennis team also boasted a GSR of 100 for the 14th time in program history while the men's golf team earned a 100 in the GSR for the seventh time. For the second time in school history and second straight year, the men's basketball team earned a perfect 100 in the GSR, providing Tech with six sport programs producing at the highest level.
Each of the women's golf, volleyball, men's golf, women's basketball, and men's basketball teams led the Ohio Valley Conference in GSR while the tennis team led the Horizon League. All six of those teams also led the state of Tennessee in GSR. The women's cross country/track & field program also produced a top-three showing in the league.
"When you compare the size of the staff devoted to academic support for student-athletes at Tech with the other state schools, the results are even more impressive," Wilson said. "While a few of our sister institutions within the state of Tennessee have considerably more academic advisors in their athletic academic support staff, we are achieving these results with a staff of four. That speaks volumes for the job that [Assistant A.D. for Academics and Student Welfare] Dr. Leveda Birdwell, her staff members, and our coaches do with stressing the importance of academic work to our student-athletes."
Birdwell added, "I have so much pride in our student-athletes at Tennessee Tech. They strive for excellence in both the classroom and athletically and work extremely hard to achieve at the highest level. When our athletic academic advising team meets with a prospective student, we talk extensively about the importance of being successful in the classroom at Tech. I tell our student-athletes if they are performing well academically, they will naturally perform better athletically because they are not stressed about their school work."
The latest GSR report reflects several other positive trends including a continued high rate of students in athletics making the Athletic Director's Honor Roll, impressive grade point averages earned by Golden Eagle student-athletes, and numerous academic honors across all sports programs.
During the past several years, Tech's student-athletes have posted the highest combined GPA ever achieved at the University, earned a combined 3.0 GPA in 31 straight semesters, and filled the Athletic Director's Honor Roll with more than 200 student-athletes in 26 of the last 30 semesters. This includes each of the top-eight totals of student-athletes on the AD Honor Roll in program history over the past 10 semesters.
Just last week, soccer student-athlete Katie Toney was recognized as an OVC Scholar-Athlete, becoming the 11th Golden Eagle to earn the league's top honor in the past nine years.
Complete NCAA Graduation Success Rate data for all Division I institutions can be accessed at www.ncaa.org.
Graduation Success Rate (GSR)
Graduation Success Rate (GSR) begins with the federal cohort and adds transfer students, mid-year enrollees, and non-scholarship students (in specified cases) to the sample. Student-athletes who leave an institution while in good academic standing before exhausting their athletics eligibility are removed from the cohort of their initial institution. This rate provides a more complete and accurate look at actual student-athlete success by taking into account the full variety of participants in Division I athletics and tracking their academic outcomes.
Federal Graduation Rate (FGR)
Federal Graduation Rate assesses only first-time full-time freshmen in a given cohort and only counts them as academic successes if they graduate from their institution of initial enrollment within a six-year period. It makes no accommodation for transfers into or out of an institution. The rate is very limited because it ignores the large number of transfer students in higher education, but it is still the only rate that allows a direct comparison between student-athletes and the general student body.
