There is little doubt that the news of the day is Pflugerville Connally quarterback Dajon Williams committing to UNT.
And that’s good news on two fronts because today also marked the release of the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate report.
A few years ago, there was a sense of trepidation when the report was about to come out because it seemed like UNT was hit with a major scholarship penalty every year.
UNT was hit with a five scholarship penalty on the report covering the 2006-07 school year and then was docked six scholarships the following year.
The report was released again today and UNT cruised through without any problems.
The APR is a little complicated, but it basically comes down to whether or not a school keeps its athletes in school and eligible.
The benchmark is 925 and UNT met it in all of its sports for the 2010-11 report. The football program scored a 938.
More often than not, we hear a whole lot about the bad news when it comes to an athletic department’s performance academically. UNT took a major hit last basketball season when Chris Jones and Jordan Williams — two key freshmen — were ineligible for the second semester.
And rightly so, It was huge news that impacted the rest of UNT’s season. I will always wonder if UNT wouldn’t have made it to the NCAA tournament last year with Jones and Williams on the floor the whole year.
But too often we overlook it when something positive happens when it comes to college athletes doing well off the floor.
UNT’s athletes did what they are supposed to do in the classroom last school year – at least when it comes to the report. They weren’t perfect and there is always room for improvement, but there are a lot of programs out there today lamenting scholarships lost and postseason bans now in place.
UConn’s national powerhouse men’s basketball team won’t play in the NCAA tournament next March because the school is one of 10 that saw its men’s program banned due to poor academic performance.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Toledo are also out in men’s basketball. Texas Southern received a postseason ban in football.
UNT’s men’s cross country team scored a perfect 1,000 and was recognized for being among the top 10 percent of teams in its sport nationally.
That was the only news there was this season for UNT when it came to the APR. It might not be a headline-grabber, but it is certainly something for the school to celebrate.