mlb Wrote:I don't believe that is the case. If a player leaves early but is in good academic standing, whether transferring or going to the NBA, it is the same penalty. The school loses 1 point towards the APR (each player can get 2 points a year). I think at minimum they take the hit for a year, afterwards they may come off the score (I'm not clear on how that works). Either way, with only 12 or 13 scholarship players, it doesn't take too many missed points before you are below the 925 score.
Good call mlb. I did a little bit of research and found this.
http://www.athleticmanagement.com/2007/0...early.html
Draft Prospects Schooled on APR
By Laura Ulrich
In early April, as the NCAA Division I Men’s Championship basketball tournament draws to a close, coaches and fans have traditionally watched very closely to see which players would declare for the NBA draft. In recent years, another group has also been interested—athletic administrators concerned about their teams’ Academic Progress Rates (APR).
Since the NCAA instituted the new academic measure in 2003-04, there has been increased pressure on institutions to urge players who leave for the professional ranks to remain in school through the end of the spring semester, finishing their coursework and earning grades that would have made them academically eligible for the fall.
Simply by leaving school and not re-enrolling for the fall, a player who turns pro costs his team one APR point. If he also stops attending class and doesn’t end the term in good academic standing, his team forgoes another point.
"Each athlete can earn a maximum of four APR points per year,” explains Keith Carodine, Associate Athletic Director for Academic Affairs at the University of Florida, where four high-profile juniors and two seniors from its back-to-back national champion men’s basketball team turned pro this spring.
“If they are eligible at the end of the fall term, that’s one point. If they enroll in the spring, that’s a second point. If they are still eligible at the end of the spring, that’s a third point, and if they enroll in the next fall, that’s the fourth. When players go pro, the challenge for institutions is to make sure they complete their [spring semester] coursework so that they become a 3 for 4, not a 2 for 4.” Each year, teams receive an APR score from the NCAA. A 925 (out of a possible 1,000) is considered a passing score, and scores below that cut-off can earn teams sanctions, from loss of scholarships to loss of post-season opportunities, to eventual suspension from Division I for institutions that perform poorly enough. For teams on the bubble or already in academic trouble, making sure athletes who go pro still go 3 for 4 can be critical.
At Florida, the basketball team earned an APR of 903 in 2004-05. When 2005-06 scores were released May 2, the team had edged its score up to 917, still short of the 925 cutoff. So at Florida, administrators make sure players get the message that they’re expected to finish strong academically from a voice they will respect. “As soon as our basketball players declared for the draft, they were each required to attend a meeting with their academic advisor and Head Coach Billy Donovan,” Carodine says. “Coach Donovan stressed to them the importance of finishing out the term and told them point blank, ‘This is your responsibility.’”
So far, so good, according to Carodine—all the basketball players are still in school and on track to finish the term, and the academic support team is helping them juggle their career aspirations with their current studies. “We’re continuing to provide them the same strong academic support they’ve had all year,” he says. “They’re still working with their tutors, and next week, they’ll be in final exams.”
Florida sometimes takes an even more proactive approach with football players who are likely to go pro, according to Carodine.
“If we know a football player is going to be focusing on the draft in the spring and they aren’t going to be able to take academics seriously, we sometimes counsel them that it’s in our best interest and in their own best interest for them not to enroll in the spring,” he says.
David Graham, Director of the Student Athlete Support Services Office at Ohio State University, has had plenty of recent experience with athletes turning pro. Earlier this year, three of the Buckeyes’ football players announced they were leaving early for the NFL, and following March Madness, three freshman basketball players declared for the NBA draft. “We knew we had three basketball players coming in this year who, if it weren’t for NBA rules, would probably have been drafted last year,” Graham says. “We knew they were projected to leave, so we had a lot of conversations in our department early-on about how to work with them.”
The first step in Ohio State’s process, according to Graham, is to make sure student-athletes who are eyeing an early leap to the professional ranks are operating on sound information. “Before they even start thinking seriously about leaving school, we want to make sure they have an accurate idea of what their chances will be at the professional level,” he says. “We help set them up with the right people to talk to at the professional organizations, because key personnel in these organizations can look at a player’s situation and make a very good estimation about what their chances of succeeding are. There are a lot of agents out there who will give student-athletes misinformation, so we make sure they have the right facts.”
Once an underclassman does declare for a draft, Graham’s next step is a sit-down meeting where he explains to the student-athletes what steps during the process could cause them to lose their college eligibility—including losing academic eligibility. At this point, he talks seriously about the need to continue working hard academically throughout the spring semester.
“I say to them, ‘What if you start sliding on teams’ draft boards and the scouts decide you’re not a lottery pick? At that point, you may decide not to go pro and want to return for another year in school,’" Graham explains. "So even as they’re flirting with this huge opportunity, we urge them to think about keeping their options open, not just for the sake of the program, but for also for their own benefit.”
Graham’s office also makes sure to get a student-athlete’s college advisors and professors involved immediately when that player starts considering going pro. “We make sure their advisors and each professor knows what’s going on so they can work with them, too,” Graham says. “With all the new responsibilities that go along with that process, we treat that time period just like a separate season, helping them work with professors to complete assignments while they’re on the road and making sure everything gets turned in on time.
“Having the APR has really made us think through these issues on a deeper level, because it has dramatically increased our accountability and placed academics squarely in the public eye,” he continues. “When I find myself having discussions with student-athletes in this situation, I do bring up the APR and how their choices will affect their team.”
Graham is doing a lot of talking about the APR to Ohio State’s coaches, as well. “If the coach gets it, they will find a way for the student-athlete to get it,” he says. “I think the most critical step for all of us is to make sure our coaches are up to speed with the APR, especially as the penalties become more real. If they understand what’s at stake, coaches with athletes who find themselves in this situation will be very motivated to help them make a plan to finish their academic work.”
On May 2, the NCAA released the most recent round of APR scores, based on 2005-06 data.
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