Sport-Blog.com

With many concerned that colleges are more interested in athletes that can perform athletically without regard to academics, the NCAA is continuing to put pressure on member schools that fail to keep the word student prominently placed in the phrase student-athlete.

Under new NCAA academic measures that focus on the true mission of college, the field of academics, as many as 99 teams at 65 different schools failed to meet basic expectations. Those schools could begin losing scholarships as early next fall, with a maximum penalty of 10% of the school's offered scholarships. That number seems generous, in particular because basketball teams could forfeit only two total scholarships. But schools will not be able to replace a lost scholarship if an academically ineligible athlete simply left the school.

The measure is formally known as the Academic Progress Rate (APR). The scores focuses upon a school's ability to retain eligible athletes semester to semester. A cutline of 925, equating to a 60 percent graduation rate, put schools at risk to lose scholarships.

Not too surprisingly, the worst performances were put up by football programs. In addition, two higher profile mens sports followed football, those being baseball and basketball. Though women's teams were a significant minority, nine women's programs were to be penalized.

Forty-three football programs fell below the cutline nationally leading to 23 schools being sanctioned. Baseball was a close second - 40 teams missed the cutline and 21 faced penalties. Falling an equal distance behind, men's basketball was third - 37 teams failed to make the NCAA marks and 17 received sanctions.

Baseball's issues surprised many, but that sport sees numerous players leave school early every year. Many are drafted into the professional leagues and choose to sign prior to completing their academic degrees.

While many received penalties, the NCAA also promoted the positive side. The organization released a list of schools that consistently outperformed the academic cutlines. Among those to receive recognition were Ivy League schools, Brown, Harvard, and Yale. Also being recognized were the three military academies, national football power Notre Dame, and William and Mary. NCAA officials reported that they had temporarily made statistical adjustments for squad size.

That adjustment, set to eventually be phased out, proved to be a part of the significant improvement over last year. At that time, it appeared that as many as 6 percent of schools would be sanctioned. Instead, less than 2 percent of all collegiate teams received penalties for their academic performance.

One other critical issue is to allow for college athletes who do leave to turn pro. To keep that factor in line, student athletes must be on par to graduate and in good academic standing when they leave to go pro or it will result in a detrimental score for the school.

Sacramento State in California proved to be the worst performer as far as total teams go. The school had the most teams affected at six. Under the sanctions, the school could face the loss of as many five athletes and 2.3 scholarships.

Prairie View A&M, in Texas, had fewer teams but was among the hardest sanctioned schools. Under the penalty format, the school could lose nearly 10 athletes in five sports and approximately eight scholarships. The school will be penalized 5.3 scholarships for football alone.

Among the loss of players, ten schools could lose more than 17 athletes in football.

The six premiere power conferences nationally faired very well over all. Only seven schools combined were sanctioned in the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Southeastern and Pac-10 Conferences. Four of those schools, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas, all of the Big 12, and Tennessee of the SEC failed to meet the required scores in baseball. West Virginia of the Big East was penalized in men's wrestling and Mississippi of the SEC was sanctioned in men's indoor track.

Only one school received sanctions in the top two sports nationally, football and basketball. DePaul, now in the Big East Conference will likely lose one scholarship in men's basketball.

As has been the case with many requirements, there is some concern that historically black colleges and universities were disproportionately affected by the implementation of the new criteria. For years, many have spoken out regarding the minimum SAT score concept stating that the SAT was culturally biased in a negative way for black athletes.

The NCAA plans for even harsher penalties in the future. Beginning with the next school year, the NCAA will begin sending out warning letters to those schools that have consistently faired poorly in academics. By 2007-08, those schools will also face the loss of scholarships and by 2008-09 could receive penalties that include a ban from post-season tournaments.