By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports
Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – What a way to start the new year.
Tennessee Tech student-athletes turn the page on the calendar
this week after posting their highest combined GPA in school
history during the fall semester, with four teams –
men’s basketball, soccer, women’s golf and men’s
golf – each registering the highest semester GPA in the
history of their sports.
“These numbers are simply awesome,” said TTU Director
of Athletics Mark Wilson. “It’s difficult to express
how elated we are with these results, and how proud we are of all
of our student-athletes and the support people who continue to
strive for – and achieve – these outstanding academic
results.”
The 14-team composite for Tech Athletic teams was 3.216,
eclipsing the previous semester high mark of 3.196 which was
achieved in the 2010 spring semester.
“Once again, Tennessee Tech student-athletes have proven
they are champions in and out of the classroom,” said TTU
President Dr. Philip Oldham. “They compete athletically with
the very best, and they are well-prepared for life when they leave
Tech.”
The women’s golf team led all teams during fall semester
with a sizzling 3.647, topping the 3.221 earned during fall 2010
which was the previous high for the team.
The men’s golf team also scored a near hole-in-one with a
3.588, surpassing their former record of 3.383 during spring
2010.
The soccer team continued the record-setting trend with 3.541, topping their 3.525 earned during fall 2010.
The fourth record that fell was shattered by the men’s basketball team with a 3.126 team GPA. That lofty GPA surpassed the marks of all former men’s basketball teams, whose previous best was 2.847 of spring 2010.
The football team also recorded a successful semester with a 2.834 team GPA, second in program history only to the team’s all-time high of 2.899 earned during last spring.
The men’s tennis team also had its second-best historical effort with a 3.471 team average.
This is 10th consecutive semester that the Team GPA has been
above 3.0, starting in spring 2009. Fall resulted in the
highest percentage of teams (86 percent) ever posting team
GPA’s above 3.0 during a semester, with 12 of Tech’s 14
squads eclipsing that barrier.
“This was a team effort, and the student-athletes deserve
most of the credit,” said Dr. Jeff Roberts, TTU’s
Faculty Athletics Representative. “They are very cleary
getting a lot of support from Lance Jasitt’s office and the
faculty in general.
“This result speaks well of the recruiting being done, and
of the entire athletics support system,” Roberts said.
“Compliments to the coaches, too, for encouraging academic
success.”
The successful fall marks continue a trend by Golden Eagle student-athletes, who have achieved the 10 highest combined overall semester GPAs in the last 10 semesters.
“Academic success is an area we focus on and have placed a lot of emphasis in, and these results provide positive feedback that we are continuing to achieve our goals,” Wilson said.
Several teams added to their streaks of consecutive semesters above the 3.0 mark. For soccer, it is the 18th consecutive and 22nd in the last 23 semesters, and for softball, the fall 2013 results were the 17th in a row and 21st in the last 23.
"The general academic performance of our population of student-athletes during the fall semester continues to be impressive,” said Dr. Lance Jasitt, Assistant Athletic Director for Academics. “Our philosophy in the academic division of the Department of Athletics has been that of continuous improvement, and our goal has been to realize that improvement each semester and with each student-athlete. We were fortunate to achieve such positive results once again this year.”
“This is a great testament to the dedicated nature of our student-athletes,” Wilson said. “The athletic department as a whole, including all of our outstanding student-athletes, has set a new precedent for prospective student-athletes, to respect and uphold to the best of their ability.”
