State penalized by NCAA

From staff reports

May 07, 2008 10:31 am

— The NCAA announced Tuesday that it penalized Texas State for its failure to live up to academic standards. Texas State was one of 123 Division I schools which were sanctioned.
Prior to the NCAA’s announcement Tuesday concerning Academic Progress Rate (APR), Texas State University’s athletic department was aware of the penalties which were imposed on its women’s basketball, men’s basketball and football programs.
Texas State lost one scholarship in women’s basketball as well as 2.95 equivalency of a scholarship in football. In addition the Bobcat men’s basketball program received a public warning from the NCAA.
The maximum number of women’s basketball scholarships for a NCAA Division I school is 15, and Texas State proactively withheld one scholarship for the 2007-08 season and did the same with its football team.
The penalties announced Tuesday were based on data compiled during the 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 academic years.
“We anticipated the penalties with our women’s basketball and football programs and took an aggressive stance to have them enforced during the 2007-08 academic year,” Texas State athletics director Larry Teis said. “Last fall, we enjoyed one of our highest overall grade point averages for student-athletes in the school’s history. We have made considerable changes in the Athletics Academic Center, including additional staffing.
“While we have improved the graduation rates for our four-year student-athletes and made strides in their overall academic performances, we also are aware of the need for continued improvement.”

Brand pleased but concerned
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Myles Brand sees the academic gains most college teams are making as a sign of progress.
He's also concerned about the recurring problems that plague some schools, some teams and one sport in particular: men's basketball.
Yes, it was all there for Brand to dissect Tuesday when the NCAA released its latest Academic Progress Report.
“There's plenty of good news,” the NCAA president said. “There has been measurable progress. There are also some concerns, and we certainly need to do more.”
The most troubling part was the listing of 26 teams which now face additional reductions in practice time and scholarships while finding themselves on the brink of a possible postseason ban because of consistently poor APR scores. If those 26 schools do not improve their APR scores drastically by next year, they will be left out of postseason play in 2009-10.
Nearly 150 other teams face potential scholarship losses as early as next season, and more than 700 teams finished with scores below the NCAA's mandated cutline of 925.
Initially, Brand said he hoped he would never have to implement the harshest penalties under the academic reforms he embraced after becoming president. He may have no choice now.

"Academic reform is here to stay," he said. "Yes, there are individual institutions where we've seen a steady decline (over the last four years), and for them, the situation is dire."