June 10, 2010

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – All 26 athletics programs at the University of Notre Dame again exceeded the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate standards as eight Irish athletic teams earned perfect 1,000 scores in the sixth annual set of APR statistics issued by the NCAA.

Notre Dame’s eight perfect scores of 1,000 was second only to Duke’s 10 among the Football Bowl Subdivision programs. Boston College was third with seven.

The 2010 report released by the NCAA features a four-year compilation of APR data from the 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years. The APR uses a series of formulas related to student-athlete retention and eligibility to measure the academic performances of all participants who receive grants-in-aid on every team at every NCAA Division I college and university.

Five of Notre Dame’s men’s teams — cross country, golf, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field all registered perfect 1,000 scores. In addition, three women’s teams — rowing, soccer and tennis — also earned perfect scores.

Thirteen other teams produced near-perfect scores of 990 and came from men’s lacrosse (998), women’s lacrosse (997), softball (996), men’s ice hockey (994), men’s swimming and diving (994), women’s swimming and diving (994), volleyball (994) men’s soccer (993), men’s golf (992), women’s golf (991), women’s cross country (990), women’s indoor and outdoor track and field (990).

In the Football Bowl Subdivision, institutions with top APR figures in football included Rutgers (992), Air Force (988), Rice (987), Northwestern (986), Duke (983), Notre Dame (978) and Miami, Fla. (978).

The release follows the announcement last month by the NCAA of teams that posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The public recognition awards were part of the broad Division I academic reform effort.

Notre Dame had 14 of its programs honored last month for the multi-year achievement — men’s basketball, men’s cross country, men’s football, men’s golf, men’s ice hockey, men’s lacrosse, men’s soccer, men’s tennis, men’s indoor track and field, men’s outdoor track and field, women’s rowing, women’s soccer, women’s softball and women’s tennis. Notre Dame also had 14 programs honored in 2009. Eleven Irish programs were honored each of the previous two years, in both 2007 and 2008. The only former Division I football-playing institution that had more programs honored this year than the 14 from Notre Dame was Duke with 15. Next in line were Boston College (13), Northwestern (10), the U.S. Naval Academy (nine), Stanford and North Carolina (eight each), Vanderbilt (seven) and Rice, Michigan and Virginia (six each).

The APR provides a real-time look at a team’s academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes both retention at institution and academic eligibility in its calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.

— ND —