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Academics For USF Athletes Encouraging

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

USf's progress on the field has yet to be matched by accomplishment in the classroom, but that could be changing.

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By JOE HENDERSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 8, 2008

Updated: 05/08/2008 02:55 am

The explosive growth of the University of South Florida's athletic program has come with more than its measure of bumps and challenges, but nothing created more internal urgency than the notion it was short-changing the "student" part of its student-athletes.

That led to an overhaul of the whole academic system for athletes at USF, which was needed. As Glen Besterfield, an associate dean for undergraduate studies, said Wednesday, "I kind of look at it like we're trying to bring the academic side of student-athletes back into the fold."

Which brings us to something called the APR - academic progress report, which is the NCAA's report card on how the nation's college athletic programs have done in the classroom during the last four years. Taken at face value, those numbers don't make USF look good. The football team, for instance, ranks third-lowest among the nation's 67 BCS programs.

That's bad, but it likely would be a lot worse without the changes on Fowler Avenue. It probably will take two more years for the full impact on the athletic department to show up in the NCAA rankings, but at least it's something to hold on to for now.

"We are turning it around," Besterfield said. "We know it's going to work. It's already working."

It needs to.

Strikes Close To Home

Nothing boils the suits at a university more than the notion athletes are defaming their hallowed academic halls. Lest we forget, universities exist to educate students and make sure they get degrees, and at most places the suits still run the joint and set policy.

That doesn't always mix well with football programs, which exist to win games and keep coaches employed. Oh, and go to bowl games so the bosses can tag along and have a good time.

Sometimes, though, it pays to remind everyone just who the boss is.

That's why USF was absolutely correct last fall when Provost Ralph Wilcox took control of classroom progress for athletes away from the athletic department and placed it under academics. Call it the separation of church and state. Shortly before signing day, USF started a review policy for football recruits, based on their likelihood of actually being admitted to school.

The idea was to weed out those in advance those who weren't prepared for college. It no doubt cost USF some potentially good players, but it has to be that way.

There were things going on out there that just shouldn't have been happening. Having athletic department employees teach classes to athletes - a practice since banned at USF - just looked bad, even if everything was on the level. But how could we be sure it was on the level? That's the point.

"We can control perception by improving our APR and graduating our student-athletes," senior associate athletic director Bill McGillis said.

He said that of the 107 football players on the roster last fall, more than 90 percent are on track to graduate within five years of their enrollment date. That's good but it leaves room to improve, too.

We should point out that despite the low ranking, USF escaped sanctions from the NCAA (such as reduced scholarships) - probably because of the reforms. A lot of other schools couldn't say that. The NCAA punished 218 teams from schools around the country for various academic sins.

Should Get Better

The system used to grade the nation's colleges is complex and not always fair, but the message has come through anyway. It doesn't mean admission should be denied to every recruit who can't recite Chaucer from memory, but it has to start somewhere.

We've had many stories in the paper recently about the tougher entrance requirements at USF. The grade-point average for incoming freshmen last year was 3.71 and next year it likely will be higher. Athletes have to play by the same rules.

"This is not something you can turn around overnight," Besterfield said. "What we implemented last year has not been reflected yet and probably won't be for two years."

This report will be an annual thing so it will be easy enough to see what progress is being made. The early signs are encouraging. Remember that incoming freshman class of football players, the first one under the new policy?

"It was significantly better academically," Besterfield said. "Without question, we are headed in the right direction."

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