Maryland women’s basketball, football hit mark with grades
Terps teams among local schools reaching heights with graduation rates
The Maryland women’s basketball team graduated all of its players who entered the school between fall of 2007 and spring of 2011, according to figures released Wednesday by the NCAA.
The football team posted a programrecord 79 percent. Overall, Maryland earned a collective 84 percent Graduation Success Rate, the eighth time in the 13-year-history of the metric that the Terps have been above 80 percent.
Maryland’s Federal Graduation Rate for its student average, which takes into account scholarship transfers, was 66 percent, 1 percentage point lower than the NCAA aggregate.
The GSR does not penalize institutions for athletes who transfer in good academic standing.
The men’s basketball GSR for the time period measured was 67 percent.
Eleven Terps teams had a GSR above 80 percent, with field hockey, women’s golf, gymnastics and volleyball along with women’s basketball posting perfect scores.
Nine teams — baseball, football, men’s lacrosse, women’s basketball, field hockey, women’s golf, gymnastics, women’s lacrosse and volleyball — equaled or improved their GSR from the previous year.
“Our student-athletes continue to work hard in the classroom,” Chris Uchacz, associate athletic director for academic services and career development, said in a statement. “They make us proud as they earn meaningful degrees that will serve them well in life after Maryland.”
Navy ranked 13th nationally among schools that have teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision with a graduation rate of 91 percent. The Midshipmen were also the tops among the nation’s three service academies.
“Our student-athletes continually strive to set the standard on the playing fields, in the classroom and in Bancroft Hall,” Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk said in a statement. “The support and encouragement they receive through the commandant and his staff and the academic dean and all of our outstanding professors and instructors is extraordinary and provides tremendous motivation to be successful morally, mentally and physically. Our midshipmen clearly define the true meaning of student-athlete.”
Loyola Maryland’s 98 percent GSR — with all 15 of its teams above the national average of 87 percent — ranked first among schools in the state and tied Colgate for the best cumulative score in the Patriot League. It also matched the 2002 and 2016 rates as the highest in school history.
Loyola had perfect GPRs for men’s cross country, men’s golf, men’s soccer, men’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis, women’s basketball, women’s cross country and track and field, women’s lacrosse, women’s rowing, women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball.
“Loyola student-athletes represent some of the best and brightest in the nation,” Donna Woodruff, the school’s assistant vice president and director of athletics, said in a statement. “Our consistent position among the highest achievers in the NCAAGraduation Success Rate data is a direct reflection of our athletes, coaches and academic staff, and a testament to their unwavering commitment to academic and athletic success while at Loyola.”
Though Towson didn’t release its overall percentage, its athletes finished with the highest collective GSR since the metric was introduced. The Tigers also had the highest GSR overall among Division I female athletes, according to a statement.
The Towson baseball team had the highest Federal Graduation Rate in the CAA, while field hockey, women’s soccer and women’s swimming and diving had a GSR of 100 percent.
“The success that our student-athletes are seeing in the classroom is a testament to the type of student-athletes our coaches are recruiting,” director of athletics Tim Leonard said in a statement. “For us to once again be at the top of the USM institutions shows the dedication of our student-athletes, coaches and academic support staff.”
The four-year average graduation rate for Towson student-athletes exceeds the overall Division I Football Championship Subdivision average.
The NCAA’s Academic Performance Rates will be released in the spring 2018 semester.