NCAA recognizes six Tribe athletic teams
A report issued by the National Collegiate Athletic Association on Thursday honored six William and Mary athletic squads as recipients of its public recognition award for 2008-09. One of the teams honored was Tribe Football.
Photo by Stephen Salpukas
To receive this recognition, the particular program must have posted an Academic Progress Report (APR) rating that finished within the top 10 percent of the national average for the sport.
The NCAA first released APR data in 2005, but didn¹t start officially recognizing teams until the following year. In the four years since, the College has had a total of 37 team recognized for academic excellence.
The Tribe teams recognized are football, men's and women's gymnastics, women's indoor and outdoor track and field and volleyball. All six of these squads have been recognized in each of the previous four years.
"I am continually impressed with the diligence our athletes and coaches places on pursuing excellence both academically and athletically, said Tribe Athletics Director Terry Driscoll. "This entire department prides itself on striving towards the true student-athlete ideal and I believe our success academically can be a true source of pride for the entire College community."
The Academic Progress Rate is a measurement of a program's academic performance based on academic eligibility, retention, and graduation of student-athletes. A rate of 925, out of a highest possible score of 1000, equates to an approximate graduation rate of 60 percent and will be used as the threshold for future program evaluations.
The complete listing of all schools' rankings can be found at www.ncaa.org, as it is a story on NCAA's main page. It also can be found by clicking the "Media and Events" link and going through the "Press Room," then "Recent News" links.
