Brad Teague knew rebuilding the University of Central Arkansas men's basketball roster last year would leave it susceptible to further Academic Progress Rate penalties, but the athletic director hoped the Bears could win an appeal from the NCAA.
That didn't happen this year.
STATE APR SCORES
UALR MEN’S SPORTS
SPORT MULTI 2013-14
Baseball 955 919
Basketball 958 981
Cross country 951 939
Golf 993 1,000
Indoor track and field 940 958
Outdoor track and field 940 986
UALR WOMEN’S SPORTS
SPORT MULTI 2013-14
Basketball 976 964
Cross country 970 1,000
Golf 955 958
Swimming 972 944
Tennis 965 n/a*
Indoor track and field 947 981
Outdoor track and field 951 1,000
Volleyball 983 976
*UALR cut women’s tennis in 2013
ARK. STATE MEN’S SPORTS
SPORT MULTI 2013-14
Baseball 968 983
Basketball 951 918
Cross country 1,000 1,000
Football 951 987
Golf 988 1,000
Indoor track and field 964 936
Outdoor track and field 977 953
ARK. STATE WOMEN’S SPORTS
SPORT MULTI 2013-14
Basketball 962 966
Bowling 1,000 967
Cross country 1,000 1,000
Golf 1,000 1,000
Soccer 976 976
Tennis 1,000 1,000
Indoor track and field 963 942
Outdoor track and field 966 945
Volleyball 964 920
CENTRAL ARK. MEN’S SPORTS
SPORT MULTI 2013-14
Baseball 968 971
Basketball 847 696
Cross country 962 973
Football 947 953
Golf 946 923
Soccer 957 1,000
Indoor track and field 957 958
Outdoor track and field 976 966
CENTRAL ARK. WOMEN’S SPORTS
SPORT MULTI 2013-14
Basketball 954 1,000
Cross country 961 975
Golf 962 963
Soccer 980 955
Softball 980 974
Tennis 984 1,000
Indoor track and field 973 982
Outdoor track and field 983 982
Volleyball 1,000 1,000
UAPB MEN’S SPORTS
SPORT MULTI 2013-14
Baseball 935 908
Basketball 949 955
Cross country 918 913
Football 916 948
Golf 795 n/a
Tennis 981 n/a
Indoor track and field 907 897
Outdoor track and field 909 931
UAPB WOMEN’S SPORTS
SPORT MULTI 2013-14
Basketball 966 1,000
Cross country 913 962
Soccer 977 983
Softball 954 1,000
Tennis 1,000 1,000
Indoor track and field 938 975
Outdoor track and field 944 972
Volleyball 943 1,000
NOTE UAPB’s men’s golf team did not receive a postseason ban after showing an improved academic performance. Figures for 2013-2014 were not made public for the UAPB women’s golf and tennis teams because they had three or fewer athletes.
The NCAA released its annual APR scores Wednesday, and UCA men's basketball team's score was so low that it will endure another season of postseason ineligibility.
The Bears received a multi-year score of 847 over the past four years and a 696 for the 2013-2014 academic year. The NCAA benchmark is 930 for multi-year scores.
The APR tracks retention rates for each athletic program, and low scores can produce penalties that include limited practice time, postseason ineligibility and a reduction in games. UCA was hit with all three of those penalties.
In addition to the postseason ban, which includes the NCAA and the Southland tournaments, UCA's in-season practice time will be reduced to 16 hours over five days, offseason practice will be cut to four hours per week, and UCA will be forced to eliminate three games from its schedule.
Teague said the games that will be missed are still being decided, but they will be nonconference games against "similar-sized schools" and series with Arkansas State and UALR will not be altered.
Teague was made aware of the figures before Wednesday but was surprised that a waiver and the school's appeal of the denied waiver did not provide relief from penalties. Before Pennell was hired last March, UCA decided not to renew the scholarships of 11 players, citing their poor academic track record, while knowing that the departures would hurt future APR scores.
"We did what we did intentionally," Teague said Wednesday. "We hoped that the NCAA would see that, give us a waiver, and they decided not to give us a waiver. So we are where we are, and hopefully next year we will get the waiver."
The process began for Teague last fall when in October he filed an appeal on the basis that UCA's housecleaning following the three-year coaching tenure of Corliss Williamson and another year under Clarence Finley showed that the school desired more academically qualified athletes.
That waiver was denied in December and an appeal was filed in January, based in part on the academic performance of the team that Pennell had recruited. Pennell said the UCA men's basketball team had a 3.0 grade-point average last fall after the 2013-2014 team accumulated a 1.8 GPA in the spring of 2014, the last semester for the players recruited largely by Williamson.
Teague said the NCAA told him that UCA's data wasn't enough to prove that UCA "had turned it around."
"It's obvious we didn't get rid of them to get better basketball players because we were [2-27]," Teague said. "We didn't wipe the slate clean because we thought we needed players. We needed better academically qualified students. That's why we wiped the slate clean. That was our point."
Teague said UCA is prepared to file an appeal to avoid another penalty when next year's scores are announced, and he expects it will be easier to convince the NCAA this time. By that time, UCA will have three semesters of academic data with its current team.
If UCA is denied the appeal, it should be fine the following year, Teague said. UCA is set to earn 1,000 points toward its APR for 2014-2015, the most a program can receive. That would make a 940 two-year score attainable, which allows programs with four-year scores of under 930 to avoid postseason bans.
Junior forward Joel Fiegler was the only UCA player to leave the program after this season, but Teague said UCA did not lose the retention point because his GPA was better than 2.6.
"Unfortunately, this is just a part of college athletics," Pennell said. "Unfortunately, we are paying the price for somebody else and that's OK. We'll deal with it. We knew that coming here. In the meantime we have to get our team better and get it right."
No Arkansas State or UALR programs received APR penalties. Nor did any programs at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, meaning for the first time since 2012 all of its teams will be eligible for postseason play.
UAPB's football team was ineligible because of APR scores last year, which came after its men's basketball program was ineligible in 2013 and 2014. Football, men's and women's basketball, and baseball were all ineligible for NCAA and Southwestern Athletic Conference tournaments last year because of NCAA sanctions stemming from a certification issue.
UAPB football's multi-year score was 916, below the normal benchmark but above the 910 requirement for schools the NCAA classifies as "limited-resource institutions," and avoided penalty.
"It is a relief and something that is expected," UAPB Athletic Director Lonza Hardy said. "We've been working from Day 1 to put some programs in place in our academic support area and bringing kids into our program that we know are bringing expectations to handle things academically."
Sports on 05/28/2015