SoCon excels in annual Graduation Success Rate data

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference exceled in the NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) scores released Tuesday, exceeding the FCS average in five men’s sports including basketball and football, and four women’s sports.

"The Southern Conference celebrates our student-athletes' remarkable academic achievements, with graduation success rates that reflect our deep institutional commitment to educational excellence," SoCon Commissioner Michael Cross declared. "These impressive metrics demonstrate prioritization of intellectual growth by creating an environment where academic success is championed by student-athletes, faculty, coaches, and athletic leadership."
  
Thirty-six SoCon women’s programs and 25 men’s programs achieved perfect scores of 100 for the 2014-17 cohorts. Nine of the 10 league schools had at least one men’s program earn a perfect score, while the same number of SoCon schools had at least two women’s programs earn a 100.
 
Samford had five men’s teams post 100 scores, and seven women’s programs achieve the benchmark. Samford led all SoCon schools with a total of 12 perfect scores, while Furman came in second with nine.
 
Samford had a league-best overall GSR of 98 as 12 of the Bulldogs’ 13 programs achieved a perfect score of 100. Overall, five league schools posted overall scores of 90 or better.
 
For the sixth year in a row, Samford was the lone SoCon school to exceed the FCS average in every sport it sponsors.
 
Women’s tennis and women’s golf top the women’s sports with seven programs achieving a perfect score in each sport. The SoCon’s mixed rifle squads led the conference with an average score of 100, followed closely women’s tennis, which posted a 98 and softball with a 98.

 
Eight SoCon men’s basketball teams exceeded the FCS average of 85, with Furman, UNCG, Samford and VMI posting perfect scores. Seven league football programs topped the FCS average of 79, with Samford and Wofford leading the way with scores of 92. The conference average was 84, five points higher than the FCS average.
 
On the women’s side, tennis turned in average GSRs of 99. Furman, Mercer, UNCG, Samford, Chattanooga, Western Carolina and Wofford turned in perfect women’s tennis scores, as did Furman, Mercer, UNCG, Samford, and Western Carolina for softball.
 
Four league women’s basketball programs exceeded the FCS average of 92, with Furman, Mercer, Samford, and Western Carolina all turning in 100s.
 
Each SoCon women’s sport had three or more institutions post perfect scores.
 
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.
 
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 23rd 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 2017.