Coach Russ Pennell’s first season at Central Arkansas will likely end with the Bears having no opportunity to appear in postseason play.
UCA Athletic Director Brad Teague told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Thursday that the men’s basketball program, barring a waiver from the NCAA, will be ineligible for the 2014-2015 postseason because of low Academic Progress Rate scores.
Results won’t be released publicly until June, but Teague said UCA’s scores are low enough that the school will not be eligible for postseason play.
UCA’s APR scores were 927 (multiyear) and 938(2011-2012) in the NCAA’s most recent report, which came out last June. In former coach Corliss Williamson’s first season (2010-2011), UCA’s APR score was 900 with a multiyear score of 923.
The NCAA uses the Academic Progress Rate to track schools’ graduation and retention rates over a four-year period, and those scores canbe affected by players leaving a program. The NCAA’s standard this year to avoid penalty is increasing to 930 (multiyear) or 940 (yearly) over the most recent two years.
“APR was already going to be an issue for us,” Teague said. “We didn’t want to drag it out.”
UCA will be the second Division I basketball program in the state to become ineligible for postseason because of low APR scores. Arkansas-Pine Bluff was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and 2014, but played in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament last month along with Grambling State, Mississippi Valley State and Southern University of Baton Rouge.
The Bears will miss out on the Southland Conference Tournament and the NCAA Tournament in 2015. When UCA moved from NCAA Division II to Division I in 2006, the school did not participate in the postseason during its four-year transition period.
UCA put in a waiver to the NCAA in March in an attempt to avoid penalties, citing that it has had three different coaches in the past year (Williamson, Clarence Finley and Pennell). Teague said he wouldn’t know about the results of the waiver request until at least May.
Pennell told the Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday that UCA was in a rebuilding process regardless of how its APR issues turn out.
“We felt like it was in the best interest for the program to move on,” Pennell said Wednesday.
Teague agreed with that assessment Thursday.
UCA finished 26-62 under Williamson in 2010-2013, including an 11-39 record in Southland Conference play. Finley was hired as the interim coach after Williamson left in August to take an assistant coaching position with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings and went 8-21 overall and 5-13 in conference play last season.
Academics were an issue for the program last season. Senior guard LaQuentin Miles and sophomore forward Tirrell Brown, both of Jacksonville, sat out the fall semester because they were academically ineligible. Junior guard Oliver Wells was ineligible for the spring semester.
Pennell met with Teague shortly after taking the UCA job in early March to discuss plans to overhaul the roster because of academics. The decision was made not to retain 11 players. The only player retained was Ethan Lee, a forward from Camden who will be a sophomore next season. Pennell signed nine players this week and expects to add two more.
Teague said Lee was the only player from last year’s roster who met academic requirements to Pennell’s satisfaction.
The NCAA’s minimum GPA requirement for competition is 2.0. As of Aug. 1, 2016, that requirement will increase to 2.3. Athletes who post a GPA between 2.0 and 2.3 will only be eligible to receive athletic financial aid and will be eligible to practice.
“We needed a commitment to academics,” Teague said.
Two of the 11 players who weren’t retained have found new homes. Freshman guard DuShaun Rice (Fort Smith Southside) is transferring to Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, and freshman forward Jalen Jackson of West Memphis is headed to Northwestern Florida State College in Niceville, Fla.
Rice and Jackson could not be reached for comment Thursday.
UCA hasn’t been successful in men’s basketball since it moved up to NCAA Division I in 2006. The Bears haven’t managed a winning season in eight seasons at the Division I level and have made the Southland Conference Tournament once in the four years they have been eligible. That came in 2013, Williamson’s last season at the school.
Teague said he isn’t willing to sacrifice academic performance for victories.
“We want to win and do well, but we want to do well in the classroom,” Teague said. “Good students make better teammates.”
Teague said the turnover in the basketball program made last weekend feel more like a football recruiting weekend. Pennell had 10 recruits on campus, and several attended the football team’s spring game at Estes Stadium.
UCA’s football team won a Southland Conference title in 2012 and competed in the Football Championship Subdivision postseason for two consecutive seasons. The school’s baseball and volleyball teams have played in the NCAA Tournament.
The basketball team is still looking for its first trip to the tournament, but any hopes for a postseason appearance will have to wait until at least March 2016.
That’s just fine with Teague and Pennell.
“It’s a culture change for us,” Teague said. “He’s done it for a long time. It’s a very unique situation to have.”
Bears down
Central Arkansas Athletic Director Brad Teague said Thursday the school’s men’s basketball program will be ineligible for the postseason in the 2014-2015 season. Here are the school’s Academic Progress Rate scores since 2008:
YEAR MULTI LAST
2013 927 938
2012 923 900
2011* 908 917
2010* 905 927
2009* 882 933
2008* 840 928 * School in NCAA transition period NOTE “Last” indicates the previous academic year. For example, the 2013 report will include the 2011-2012 score.
Sports, Pages 17 on 04/18/2014