UConn Loses 2 Scholarships Due To Poor Academic Performance

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The national champion Connecticut men's basketball program will lose two scholarships for the upcoming season as a result of a poor Academic Performance Rating from the NCAA.

The APR measures the classroom performance of every Division I student-athlete, composing a score for each team.

The national Academic Performance Rating is due out next week, but a link to an internal copy of the report ended up Friday on a UConn chat board. A university official with knowledge of the situation confirmed the numbers in the report, and said the school had been given the link to prepare for next week's release.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the report is not scheduled to be made public until Tuesday.

The rating puts the basketball program's four-year rating at 893, below the NCAA minimum score of 925. The score for the 2009-10 academic year is 826.

The school had no official comment on the report Friday.

UConn has already been docked one of its 13 scholarships because of NCAA recruiting violations. The loss of scholarships due to the APR report will leave the school with 10 for the next academic year.

The Huskies, who last month announced that forward Jamal Coombs-McDaniel will transfer, have eight players on scholarship for next season. They also have signed one recruit, guard Ryan Boatright from Illinois.

Last year, UConn recorded a four-year APR of 930, including an 844 for the 2008-09 season.

"Eight straight years, we made the APR," Calhoun said after being lauded by the governor and lawmakers during "Husky Day" at the state Capitol last month. "If because someone left early or didn't finish, all those various things that get you ... when you have 16 kids leave (for the pros) in a 10-year period, you are more likely to be more open to (a low APR) happening."

A low rating is costly to Calhoun personally. His contract calls for him to donate $100,000 to a UConn scholarship fund if the program doesn't meet the APR. He also will forfeit his postseason bonus of $87,500, earned during UConn's run to the national title.

Comments

[BeamMeUpScottie]

04:13 PM on 05/22/2011

Wow. I remember last January when all the UCONN boosters were calling Oklahomans dumb okies and cheaters before the Fiesta Bowl.

This is priceless.

[portfolio]

09:44 AM on 05/22/2011

Butler was the real winner to me.

They run a clean program with real students that graduate.

[henrypapillon]

10:02 AM on 05/22/2011

There probably will be more punishment once Calhoun is fully investigated by the NCAA. I don't know if butler was worthy of being called champs after the totally crappy game they played, but I have doubts about the integrity of the UCONN program.

[dlg569]

09:35 AM on 05/22/2011

The reason UConn lost two scholarships is because the APR punishes a school when players do not graduate. It doesn't matter to the APR if a player transfers to another school (and thus UConn would have no control over whether the player graduates) or whether the player leaves early for the NBA (as Calhoun said above 16 kids left early for the pros over the past 10 years). The stat that should really matter is how many kids stayed all four years and did not graduate.

[EmmaLib]

07:13 AM on 05/22/2011

I like this idea of giving scholarships for good performance and they are withdrawn for poor performance.....College is about learning, basket ball is a perk to time spent @ university.
As a nation, we need to do this with Corporations, like big oil, assuming they eventually will pay taxes....poor performance gets taxes levied at a higher rate, the more environmentally friendly they become, the more safety conscience they achieve, then they have earned tax breaks, not before.

[TurgidCaterwauling]

11:44 PM on 05/21/2011

Nothing ruins a good sports program like academic standards.

[Flight]

11:10 PM on 05/21/2011

"The school had no official comment on the report Friday."

There is nothing to say, it is what it is. Calhoun is already having to serve some suspension for some irregularity, right? Now this comes....so much for being a national champion.

[dennissinned]

10:34 PM on 05/21/2011

Calhoun doesn't care about his students, er players.

[Sqrlmom]

09:56 PM on 05/21/2011

How do you flunk remedial A B Cs?

[FreedToChoose]

09:41 PM on 05/21/2011

Whew!. For a minute I thought it was the women.

[elizabethcity]

09:13 PM on 05/21/2011

Is anybody really surprised by this?

[FreedToChoose]

09:43 PM on 05/21/2011

Me, but then Maya Moore was a scholastic All-American the past two years and I--lazy me--thought UCONN was watchng their athletic programs more closely.

[alpina]

08:01 PM on 05/21/2011

Colleges make sure these players are enrolled in the most remedial classes imaginable to shore up their GPA's, so for them to flunk out of even these classes means they seriously have no business inside the hallowed halls of higher learning. It makes you wonder how they found their way to the gym everyday?

[pepper1311]

07:55 PM on 05/21/2011

Baseball makes big money, pay the players for there jobs, (b-ball) let anyone go pro not this one year rule.

[genrel1248]

06:47 PM on 05/21/2011

UConn loses 2 scholarships to ineffective academic cheating.

[tonewheel]

06:31 PM on 05/21/2011

Glad to see this, and I'm not referring to the young men who have lost out due to non-performance in academics. Rather, I'm pleased to see this being enforced. Back in the early 70s when I was at Michigan, I was in a dorm on a floor with numerous basketball players and a few football players (my roommate was on a full football ride.) All were on scholarships and with just a few exceptions, I can report firsthand that most of these guys never studied, were constantly on academic probation, and didn't really care about the academic side of school. They all graduated, save one, and the sham was obvious.

So again, I'm glad to see the rules have been enforced in this case, yet I think the norm is more representative of my days at Michigan.

[mmsuki]

06:16 PM on 05/21/2011

I guess the message is clear:

get smarter students to write your papers and take your tests.