Southeast raises APR scores

The way Jayson Santos sees things, there was good news and bad news regarding Southeast Missouri State's Academic Progress Report, released by the NCAA on Tuesday.

Santos, Southeast's assistant athletic director for compliance, believes the good far outweigh the bad.

For the second straight year, Southeast had four programs fall below 925 on the multiyear APR. The NCAA uses 925 as its cutoff score, with 1,000 the maximum.

But, for the first time since the NCAA began collecting data in 2003, Santos said every Southeast program scored more than 925 for the 2006-07 academic year, which is the most recent data compiled.

"That's a very positive sign. It's the only time we've ever had it," Santos said. "We absolutely feel good about that. It shows, across the board, our sports are trending upward."

The Southeast programs that fell below 925 for the NCAA's first four-year APR data period -- from the 2003-04 through 2006-07 academic years -- were the same as last season, when data was based on a three-year period: football, men's basketball, women's basketball and baseball.

But, because of upgraded APR scores from 2006-07, the multiyear APR scores improved for all four programs: Football scored 905 compared to 895 last year; men's basketball scored 906 compared to 887; women's basketball scored 914 compared to 909; and baseball scored 904 compared to 896.

"Those have all improved quite a bit, and the key is to keep improving," Santos said, noting that beginning next year every APR report will include data from the most recent four-year period. "You put a few good years together. ... Another good year, and then that takes 2003-04 off the books."

The NCAA penalizes programs that fall below 925 primarily with a reduction of scholarships (no more than 10 percent).

Southeast football, which technically lost 4 1/2 scholarships after last year's APR report, will be limited to awarding 61 scholarships (the Division I-AA maximum is 63).

But since football is not quite fully funded in scholarships by the university, the penalty has no impact at all since the Redhawks are already below the 61 scholarships.

Men's basketball did not receive any penalty for the second year in a row. Last year it was because of the NCAA's squad-size adjustment (teams that have a fewer number of scholarship student-athletes were granted a reprieve from penalties, although that has now been eliminated).

In the report released Tuesday, men's basketball was not penalized because Santos said the program has especially trended up the past two years.

"When your scores are really trending up, they [the NCAA] basically want to reward you," Santos said.

Women's basketball, which was spared a penalty last year because of the NCAA's squad-size adjustment, received a penalty of being limited to 14 scholarships, one below the NCAA maximum.

But Santos said since the Redhawks only had 14 players on scholarship this year, that takes care of the penalty.

Baseball, also spared a penalty last year because of the NCAA's squad-size adjustment, will be limited to awarding 11.57 scholarships (the NCAA maximum is 11.7).

But, like football, baseball is not fully funded as far as scholarships, so the penalty will have no impact on the program.

According to the NCAA, football, basketball and baseball are the sports that have struggled the most with the APR, but those are improving.

Under the APR system, athletes earn one point for remaining academically eligible each semester and another point each semester they remain at the school, accumulating a maximum of four points each year. Players transferring out of a program can greatly affect the APR.

In three of Southeast's four sports that fell under the 925 cutoff -- football, men's basketball and women's basketball -- new head coaches took over after the NCAA began tracking the APR in 2003.

Football coach Tony Samuel, men's basketball coach Scott Edgar and women's basketball coach John Ishee will be entering their third seasons next school year.

All of Southeast's other sports scored comfortably above the 925 on the multiyear APR, led by men's cross country at 990. Last year that program received a perfect 1,000 multiyear APR.

Other scores for Southeast men's sports were outdoor track (958) and indoor track (957).

Scores for other Southeast women's sports were cross country (983), outdoor track (974), indoor track (973), gymnastics (966), soccer (965), volleyball (964), softball (955) and tennis (950).

Several other Ohio Valley Conference schools received penalties by the NCAA, including the football programs at Murray State, Jacksonville State and Tennessee-Martin, and the men's basketball program at Jacksonville State.

Depending on whether or not they are fully funded for the maximum 63 football scholarships, Murray State lost 6.2 scholarships, Jacksonville State lost 5.69 and Tennessee-Martin lost two.

For men's basketball, based on the NCAA maximum of 13 scholarships, Jacksonville State lost two.