Gonzaga’s athletic teams post nation’s second-highest Academic Progress Rate score

INDIANAPOLIS – Gonzaga’s athletics programs combined to post the nation’s second-highest Academic Progress Rate (APR) score of 997, according to data released by the NCAA.

Gonzaga’s multiyear average of 997 is behind only Columbia, Villanova and Bradley, which each averaged 998. Of GU’s 15 APR-eligible teams, 10 posted perfect 1,000 scores in the APR’s multiyear average, a combined mark of reported data from each of the past four completed academic years.

The 997 is also 14 points above the NCAA average of 983 and 13 points above the West Coast Conference average of 984.

Seven Gonzaga programs have posted at least four consecutive years of perfect 1,000 scores, led by 14 straight from women’s golf. Women’s cross country and track have posted eight straight 1,000s; women’s tennis and men’s cross country track have had six each; and men’s golf and women’s basketball have had five in a row.

GU’s men’s basketball team has four straight years of perfect 1,000s, becoming one of only 17 schools nationally to have a perfect multiyear rate in the sport.

Instituted in 2004, the Academic Progress Rate (APR) program is a 1,000-point scale representing an institution’s retention and maintenance of its scholarship student-athletes’ academic eligibility and citizenship.

APR rates are calculated every semester and are attached not only to institutions, but also to individual head coaches. The NCAA uses an APR score of 930 as its cutoff for acceptable retention and graduation of student-athletes. Schools falling under that standard may be subject to NCAA penalties ranging from scholarship limits and/or reductions to potential elimination of postseason play opportunities.