Mean Green Blog

One of the Mean Green faithful posted a comment -- make that a question -- on the blog today, and since we encourage that sort of interactive activity here on the Mean Green Blog, I thought I would try to answer.

The question had to do with the scholarship penalties UNT suffered as the result of its APR score and why other schools with lower scores were not penalized or penalized as harshly.

To tell you the truth I had the same questions when it came to how the penalties were handed out, so I went to the man with the best handle on how the process works that I know of -- Daryl Simpson, UNT's director of compliance.

Simpson said that there are a number of ways that schools can appeal the penalties they receive.

One way in which a school can appeal penalties is through a chart that takes an athletic department's APR score and estimates the graduation rate that score equates to. The APR is based on an athletic department's ability to keep athletes in school and eligible. If the graduation rate based on a school's APR score is 10 percent above the school's overall graduation rate that school will not be penalized by the NCAA.

That rule doesn't help UNT because the school has a high graduation rate for its general student body.

Another rule that can get a school out of hot water is based on its funding level. If a school can prove that it is under funded, it can avoid penalties.

That rule doesn't help UNT because it is in a good financial situation compared to some other schools out there.

Schools can also appeal individual student's cases. UNT went this direction in basketball because it only needed one more point to get to 925 only to be denied.

Schools can also appeal based on the progress they have made toward reaching the APR benchmark and improving their academic program. UNT appealed its football penalty based on the investment it has made in an academic center and academic personnel dedicated to athletics. The NCAA didn't rule in UNT's favor on that one either.

So when it comes down to it, UNT has a lot going for it in terms of the graduation rate of its student body, the funding it has to work with and has had good APR scores in the past.

Most of the time those assets are something to sell. This time it ended up being what did UNT in.

Post your thoughts on the blog. How much will these penalties hurt UNT?