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Rice University Athletics
AFCA Awards Owls Top Academic Honor
12/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 8, 2010
David Bailiff's Rice Owls will join with Northwestern University in sharing the American Football Coaches Association's 2010 Academic Achievement Award, which is presented by the Touchdown Club of Memphis.
While the Owls have been recognized for their graduation progress in 22 of the last 23 years, this marks the first time the Owls will be presented the AFCA's top award. The Owls had earned honorable mention recognition in 21 of the previous 22 years for topping a 90% graduation rate. The award will be presented at the AFCA President's Kickoff Luncheon on Monday, January 10 at the 2011 AFCA Convention in Dallas.
Rice is the second Conference USA school to be so honored. SMU won the award in 2006.
Rice and Northwestern recorded a 100 percent graduation rate for members of its freshman football student-athlete class of 2003. This year's award marks the third time the NCAA's Graduation Success Rate (GSR) formula has been used to select the winner. From 1981 to 2007, the award was presented based on a formula used by the College Football Association and AFCA. Since 2008, the criteria for the AFCA's Academic Achievement Award is based on the highest NCAA GSR, at least 15 students in the GSR Cohort, and a Federal Graduation Rate of 75 percent or better.
Forty-two other institutions will be recognized for graduating 75 percent or more of their football student-athletes. Thirteen of those institutions -- Air Force, Army, Boston College, BYU, Duke, Iowa, Marshall, Miami (Fla.), Navy, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Virginia Tech and West Virginia -- achieved a rate of 90 percent or better. The remaining 29 institutions are: Arizona State, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Auburn, Boise State, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Illinois, Kentucky, LSU, Miami (Ohio), Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Southern Mississippi, SMU, Stanford, Temple, TCU, Texas Tech, UNLV, Utah, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest and Washington.
The Academic Achievement Award was established by the College Football Association in 1981. The award recognized the CFA-member Football Bowl Subdivision institution with the highest graduation rate among members of its football team. When the CFA disbanded in 1997, the AFCA stepped in to present the award and conduct a graduation rate survey that encompassed all members of the FBS.
The GSR is based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes which is a change from the five-year window used by the CFA and AFCA. The GSR was developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes. The GSR holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees.
Under GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are passed to the receiving institution's GSR cohort. By counting incoming transfer students and midyear enrollees, the GSR increases the total number of student-athletes tracked for graduation by more than 37 percent.
2010 Conference Breakdown of Winners and Honorable Mentions: ACC- 6, Mountain West- 6, Big 10- 5, SEC- 5, Big East- 4, Big 12- 3, Conference USA- 3, Independents- 3, MAC- 3, Pac-10- 3, WAC- 2, Sun Belt- 1.
Academic Achievement Award Winners Through the Years
1981: Duke*
1982: Notre Dame*
1983: Notre Dame*
1984: Duke & Notre Dame*
1985: Virginia*
1986: Virginia*
1987: Duke*
1988: Notre Dame*
1989: Kentucky*
1990: Duke*
1991: Notre Dame*
1992: Boston College & TCU*
1993: Duke*
1994: Duke*
1995: Boston College, Duke & Wake Forest*
1996: Boston College, Duke & Vanderbilt*
1997: Duke*
1998: Northwestern
1999: Duke
2000: Syracuse
2001: Notre Dame & Vanderbilt
2002: Northwestern
2003: Duke
2004: Boston College & Northwestern
2005: Duke & Northwestern
2006: SMU
2007: Northwestern & Notre Dame
2008: Vanderbilt
2009: Notre Dame & Miami (Fla.)
2010: Northwestern & Rice
*- Presented by the College Football Association
Most Awards: Duke, 12; Notre Dame, 8; Northwestern, 6; Boston College, 4.
Most Honorable Mentions: Virginia, 22; Rice, 21; Notre Dame, 20; Penn State, 20; Vanderbilt, 20.
