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Press releaseLOGAN -- Utah State was one of 41 schools recognized by the American Football Coaches Association for Academic Achievement, announced Thursday by the AFCA. USU is the only Western Athletic Conference school recognized as well as the only school in the state of Utah.
The University of Notre Dame and University of Miami will share the American Football Coaches Association's 2009 Academic Achievement Award, as both schools recorded a 100 percent graduation rate for members of its freshman football student-athlete class of 2002.
Utah State is one of 39 schools recognized for graduating 75 percent or more of their football student-athletes. USU joins Alabama, Air Force, Army, Boston College, Central Florida, Connecticut, Duke, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Marshall, Memphis, Miami (Ohio), Michigan, Missouri, Navy, New Mexico, North Carolina, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Rice, Rutgers, South Florida, Southern Mississippi, Stanford, Syracuse, TCU, Troy, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Washington and West Virginia.
"I'm extremely proud of the young men in the Utah State football program for achieving this tremendous honor. Our first and foremost goal for every student-athlete we recruit is for them to graduate from Utah State University," USU head coach Gary Andersen said. "We make sure that every assistant coach is responsible for the players in their position and that we're monitoring their academics. The support and hard work done by our academic support staff, mentors and tutors is second-to-none. We're very appreciative of all of their efforts in helping us earn this honor."
Additionally, Utah State has a combined average 70 percent graduation rate for football student-athletes, encompassing it's most recent four graduating classes ending in 2008. This coincides with the same time that USU has been in the WAC after joining prior to the 2005 season. Utah State's 70 percent is the highest among the nine WAC schools, as well as the highest of the three Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools in the state of Utah, bettering that of BYU (61 percent) and Utah (57 percent).
"I'm proud of the efforts made by the freshmen who entered in this class to persevere and graduate. They achieved the ultimate win - that of earning their degrees," said Dr. Brian Evans, USU Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Services.
This year's award marks the second time the NCAA's Graduation Success Rate (GSR) formula has been used to select the winner. From 1981 to 2007 the award was presented based on a formula used by the College Football Association and AFCA.
The Academic Achievement Award was established by the College Football Association in 1981. The award recognized the CFA-member Football Bowl Subdivision institution with the highest graduation rate among members of its football team. When the CFA disbanded in 1997 the AFCA stepped in to present the award and conduct a graduation rate survey that encompassed all members of the FBS.
The GSR is based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes which is a change from the five-year window used by the CFA and AFCA. The GSR was developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes. The GSR holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees.
Under GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are passed to the receiving institution's GSR cohort. By counting incoming transfer students and midyear enrollees, the GSR increases the total number of student-athletes tracked for graduation by more than 37 percent. The NCAA also calculates the federal graduation rate for student-athletes because it is the only rate by which to compare student-athletes to the general student body.
(Courtesy Utah State University)
