Sports Headliners learned this week that the Gophers football program has earned a 968 Academic Progress Rate (APR) from the NCAA.
The APR is the best during the coaching era of Tim Brewster that began in January of 2007. It’s also thought to be the highest ever for Gophers football.
The most recent rating is for the school year of 2008-2009 that ended a year ago. The APR is a metric used by the NCAA to measure progress of student-athletes in moving toward academic degrees.
The failure of a program to graduate less than 50 percent of its athletes can result in the loss of scholarships. A perfect score is 1000 and 925 rating is the cutoff for loss of scholarships by the NCAA.
The Gophers lost three scholarships last year for 2009 recruiting but those scholarships will now accrue back to the program. Classroom progress by the program has been evident during the Brewster era as he and his staff placed more attention on grades and graduation.
Two years ago the Gophers graduated 100 percent of their senior players and last year over 90 percent. This spring the percent is expected to be 100.
The most recent APR news will be positively received by University of Minnesota officials who have been emphasizing academics in the athletic department. Minnesota’s football graduation success and climbing APR’s compare favorably with the more successful academic records of other football programs in the Big Ten Conference.
Brewster’s contract, available on the public record, includes a bonus that pays him $25,000.00 for an APR of 965 or better.