The NCAA's Academic Progress Rate found the IU men's basketball program well below the national average, ranked 325 out of 341 Division I schools. The Hoosiers received an APR score of 866, down almost 70 points from the national average of 933 and also under the NCAA's minimum limit of 925.
According to the report, released Wednesday, the basketball program received a pair of penalties - a reduction of scholarships to 11 (served this season) and a public notice. Should the program's performance in the APR continue to slip, further penalties could result.
In a release, IU Athletics Director Fred Glass addressed the notice and threw full support behind coach Tom Crean's efforts to raise the academic profile of his beleaguered program.
"We take this public notice very seriously," Glass said in the release. "The poor academic performance for which we're being cited all occurred under two coaches who are no longer at IU. We are confident that under coach Tom Crean's leadership and commitment to academics, responsibility, and character, we will soon be able to put our previous academic issues fully in the past."
The release also cited Crean's APR successes at Marquette, where the Golden Eagles achieved an APR score of 970 in the same report, which reflected Crean's last year in Milwaukee.
The APR score is tabulated by analyzing a program's retention of players as well as said players' academic performance, so this score is based on each of the last four IU basketball seasons.
Graduating players garners APR points, but players leaving the program early and/or not in good academic standing can negatively affect that score.
The scholarship penalty, which essentially reduces the number of scholarships the program can hand out from 13 to 11, was served this year, as IU expected to have a low score based on the academic trouble and multiple departures surrounding the end of Kelvin Sampson's tenure.
No other IU program finished under the NCAA's limit of 925. Public institutions as a whole averaged one point under that limit.
Click here for a link to the report itself, and past the jump to read the full IU release.
INDIANA MEN'S BASKETBALL RECEIVES PUBLIC NOTICE FOR APR SCORE
The Indiana University men's basketball program received a public notice from the NCAA after its multiyear Academic Progress Rate
(APR) fell below the academic threshold of 925 (866) for the academic years of 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08. The APR is based on a team's academic performance each semester or quarter by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete.
The APR includes eligibility, retention, and graduation in the calculation. All of the other 23 sports at IU registered well above the 925 benchmark, with 16 finishing at 970 or better.
"We take this public notice very seriously," said Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass. "The poor academic performance for which we're being cited all occurred under two coaches who are no longer at IU. We are confident that under Coach Tom Crean's leadership and commitment to academics, responsibility, and character, we will soon be able to put our previous academic issues fully in the past. Coach Crean's outstanding academic record at Marquette, including the graduating of all of his senior players, speaks for itself."
Crean's final APR score at Marquette also was released today and under his direction the Golden Eagles had a multiyear APR score of 970, ranking among the top 10 to 20 percent of the programs in the country, and third among the 16-member Big East Conference (Villanova, Notre Dame).
The public notice is issued on the first occasion a historical penalty is assessed. In addition, IU received a contemporaneous penalty that cost the program two scholarships, however, the program voluntary reduced its scholarship allotment for the 2008-09 season in anticipation of the reductions and will be able to offer the full NCAA limit of 13 scholarships moving forward.
Earlier this year, Indiana's men's golf (1000) and women's soccer (994) programs multiyear APR scores finished among the top 10 percent of the programs in their sport and were recognized for top academic performance as part of the NCAA's academic reform program.
"I want to congratulate the men's golf and women's soccer student-athletes for their outstanding work in the classroom, and commend the leadership of head coaches Mike Mayer and Mick Lyon for continuing to reinforce academic achievement as a top priority," said Glass.
