Bucs Beat: Schiano got results in classroom, too

As he dug deeper into Greg Schiano's background, Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik delved beyond the football field and into the classrooms at Rutgers University.

There he found something he considered as impressive as the Scarlet Knights' 5-1 record in bowl games under Schiano.

It was the Academic Performance Rating of Rutgers football players, who placed in the top three in the nation during each of Schiano's last four years at the school, according to the NCAA.

Now, the rate at which players graduate from college may not seem like a strong indicator of a college coach's ability to succeed at the NFL level, but Dominik believes there is a strong tie-in to it.

The Rutgers graduation rate, which was tops in the nation in 2010 and second in 2011, tells Dominik that Schiano not only can relate to players but also motivate and discipline them in a way that produces positive results.

"Because we have such a young football team, it's really important that he be able to get through to the players and motivate them," Dominik said at the time of Schiano's hiring. "What he did with the graduation rate at Rutgers is amazing.''

"What that tells me is that young people are listening to him and buying into what he believes in and what he says about how you grow and become a professional, and not just on the field but off the field.''

The APR denotes a team's academic success for each semester or quarter by tracking each student-athlete's eligibility, retention and graduation to provide a picture of the academic culture in each school and sport.

The top score possible is 1,000. Rutgers football, which was the only BCS school to finish in the top three each of the last four years, according to the NCAA, posted scores of 992 in 2010 and 988 in 2011.

Graduate this

Schiano came to the Bucs with a reputation for not only graduating his players, but sending many of them to the NFL. The numbers there are rather impressive, as well.

A total of 16 Scarlet Knights were drafted by NFL teams after Shiano took over at Rutgers in 2001. That includes 13 in the last five years, and it is almost certain to go up this year.

The Scarlet Knights have eight eligible players in this year's draft, led by WR Mohamed Sanu, who is the sixth-ranked receiver in the draft, according to ESPN's draft tracker.

The Rutgers program had never produced a first-round NFL pick before Schiano arrived, but three Knights – OT Anthony Davis, CB Devin McCourty and WR Kenny Britt – went in the first round in the past three drafts.

Decade of parity

The NFC South, of which the Bucs are an original member, is now a decade old, and as good an example as any of the kind of parity the NFL wants throughout the league.

Since the NFC South was created in 2002, none of its four member teams has won back to back division titles, making the NFC South the only division not to have a repeat champion since the NFL expanded to 32 teams.

During the past decade, the Bucs have three division titles, tied with New Orleans for the most in the division. Atlanta and Carolina each have two titles. That's about as even as it gets.