SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference exceled in the NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) scores released Tuesday, matching or exceeding the FCS average in seven men’s sports including baseball, basketball and football, and six women’s sports.
 
“This is outstanding news to see once again the fervent commitment and impressive results by our SoCon institution student-athletes and staff to academic excellence,” SoCon Commissioner Jim Schaus said. “Graduation is the ultimate finish line for our student-athletes. ‘Student’ will always come first for our SoCon student-athletes.”
 
Fifty-five SoCon programs earned perfect scores of 100 for the 2010-13 cohorts, an improvement of six from last year’s GSR data. Two additional women’s programs achieved the standard this time around, pushing the total to 33, while 22 men’s teams, four more than last year, boasted perfect scores. VMI’s mixed rifle team is counted toward the men’s total. All 10 league schools had at least one men’s program earn a perfect score, while eight SoCon schools had at least one women’s program earn a 100.
 
Samford and Wofford led the way with 10 perfect scores each, as both institutions had four men’s squads and six women’s teams post 100s. Furman had nine teams earn perfect marks, including a league-best seven women’s programs.
 
For the second year in a row, Samford was the lone SoCon school to exceed the FCS average in every sport it sponsors. The Bulldogs led the league with an overall GSR of 99.
 
Eight of the nine SoCon volleyball programs posted perfect scores, while six of the league’s eight men’s tennis teams and men’s golf programs turned in 100s.
 
Six of the eight SoCon baseball programs, seven of 10 men’s basketball programs and eight of the nine football teams met or exceeded the FCS average. Eight of the 10 men’s and women’s cross country/track and field programs exceeded the average, as did eight of nine volleyball programs. Five of eight women’s basketball programs beat the FCS mark.
 
The SoCon’s men’s tennis programs combined for a 96 GSR, exceeding the FCS average by seven points, while the league’s GSR of 99 also exceeded the national average by seven points.
 
Developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative, the GSR is used to assess the academic success of student-athletes. The GSR measures graduation rates at Division I institutions and includes students transferring into the institutions. The GSR also allows schools to subtract student-athletes who leave their institutions prior to graduation as long as they would have been academically eligible to compete had they remained.

For more the NCAA's full release and a searchable GSR database, click here.
 
ABOUT THE GSR
The Graduation Success Rate was developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately measure the success of Division I student-athletes.
• The GSR takes into account the many different academic paths followed by today’s college students.
• Unlike the federal graduation rate, the GSR holds institutions accountable for transfer students. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees and is calculated for every sport.
• By counting incoming transfer students and midyear enrollees, the GSR increases the total number of student-athletes tracked for graduation by approximately 37 percent.
• Under the GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are essentially passed to the receiving institution’s GSR cohort.
• The NCAA also calculates the federal graduation rate for student-athletes, because it is the only rate to compare student-athletes to the general student body.
• This year marks the 19th year of GSR data that have been collected. The NCAA began collecting GSR data with the entering freshman class of 1995. The latest entering class for which data are available is 2013.