WSU once again performs well on NCAA’s APR metric

The NCAA released it’s latest Academic Progress Rate data yesterday, and the news continues to be excellent for the Washington State Cougars, as seven different sports posted perfect single-year scores and all of its athletic programs posted four-year rolling scores well above the mandated threshold of 930.

Football posted its highest single-year score ever (978), raising its four-year average to 969, also the best mark since APRs were implemented in 2004. Men’s basketball, meanwhile, turned in a robust 980 single-year score to raise its four-year average to 967.

The seven sports that posted perfect single-year scores are: Baseball, women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, rowing, men’s cross country, and volleyball. Women’s golf has now posted a perfect score for five consecutive years and in 11 of the 14 years in which it has been measured.

The vast majority of the school’s programs are trending upward or holding steady well above 930. A program that falls below 930 in the four-year average is ineligible to participate in NCAA championships, and other penalties ranging from practice restrictions to scholarship reductions can be applied. Although a couple of WSU programs ticked down this year, none of them are in any current danger of incurring any of these penalties.

It’s important to note that APR doesn’t measure academic achievement; rather, it measures retention and progress toward graduation for the athletes in each program. Every scholarship athlete has the potential to pick up four points for their team — one point each semester for finishing the term and one point each semester for being eligible to play during that term.

To that end, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens to the men’s basketball score given the premature departure of five players from the program. Even if the score takes a bit of a dive next year, the four-year average still should be buoyed by both the high scores of the last two years (980 and 981) and the dropping off of just a 963 from 2014.

Still confused as to how the score is calculated? Here’s a handy-dandy chart from the NCAA, followed by WSU’s historical performance.

NCAA.com