CLEVELAND – The Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association (FCS ADA) has announced that Jacksonville State has received the inaugural Academic Progress Rate (APR) Award for having the most improved score from the previous year for the Ohio Valley Conference.
The APR Award recognizes one institution at each of the 14 FCS conferences that has the highest APR score and also the institution with the most improved score. In all, 28 awards will be given.
"We are extremely excited that our football team is receiving this national award for their hard work in the classroom,” said JSU President Dr. William A. Meehan. “We have made tremendous strides with our APR score in football and I appreciate the work of the student-athletes to make this possible.”
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) member colleges and universities adopted a comprehensive academic reform package designed to improve the academic success and graduation of all student-athletes. The centerpiece of the package is the academic measurement for teams, known as the APR.
“The FCS ADA continues to look for ways to recognize its institutions and support our mission of graduating student-athletes,” said FCS ADA President Peter Fields, athletics director at Montana State University. “Using the APR as a measuring tool is another way for us to honor deserving institutions.”
The NCAA will release the APR scores later this month. However, the NCAA notified Jacksonville State last December that the Gamecocks' postseason play ban had been lifted after the football teams APR scores improved enough to surpass the minimum benchmark.
“This APR improvement would not have been realized without the great support from our Academic Affairs Department, including Dr. (Rebecca) Turner and Dr. (Joe) Delap,” said JSU Athletic Director Oval Jaynes. "The credit when you have a performance like this goes to the students and the coaches monitoring the situation to make sure we are doing what we should off the field as well as on.”
Jacksonville State will receive its awards during the FCS ADA Luncheon sponsored by Borden Perlman Insurance Agency, on Tuesday, June 22 in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Convention at the Marriott Hotel in Anaheim, Calif.
