APR! ANNUAL PIPSQUEAK REAMING, IN NCAA-SPEAK.

Along the lines of asbestosis and silicon breast implant litigation… the next great maker of legal millionaires. Makes my heart soar… the fertile ground of disputes requiring representation is growing more fetid and enlarging at an unpresedented rate.

On another note, what came first, the dispute or the paid advocate?

“. . . one that will likely require the services of that most pricey and ornery of professionals: the attorney.”

From your lips to God’s ears, Orson. Devil Child #1 is only six years away from consuming college tuition at a frightful rate.

And, as always, thanks for the insightful breakdown.

frankly, i’m stunned there haven’t been any Bammers on here commenting on how ridiculous seeing AU in the top 10 is, especially after the correspondence course quagmire

auburn jumping up so fast reminds me of a friend in college who couldn’t pass an SAT II language test after 5 attempts to get his degree and he was in danger of not graduating so he asked his friend fluent in the language to take it in his name… his friend ended up aceing the exam and making the entire thing look questionable as hell because of the disparity between the previous scores and the passing one….

I find it humorous that Auburn places in the top 10% of graduating athletes, less than a year after the New York Times runs a piece on how they are literally giving away Sociology degrees to athletes.

Am I the only one who sees the humor in this?

“which makes next year’s APR look like a potential killing floor for dumbish teams”

Don’t let the name throw you Jimmy. It’s not really a floor, it’s more of a steel grating that allows material to sluice through so it can be collected and exported.

I’m with ya #4. As Orson pointed out in “The Hammer’s” statement, the NCAA just wants to see graduation…they don’t care by what means. Definately interesting; and smelly too.

From the NCAA’s press release: “In addition, the NCAA grants waivers of scholarship penalties in limited situations based on institutional mission or other extenuating circumstances on a case-by-case basis.”

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/?CONTENT_URL=http://www2.ncaa.org/portal/media_and_events/press_room/2007/may/20070502_apr_data_rls.html

I tried to find the APR rules so as to examine this loophole, but couldn’t find them.

Here is another link if you want to look up certain teams:

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/?CONTENT_URL=http://www2.ncaa.org/portal/academics_and_athletes/education_and_research/academic_reform/apr/2005-06/school_data.html

I don’t know why those links appeared in that garbled form. Sorry.

1.) “The bees buzz”???

Orson, haven’t you been reading the news!?!? There are no more bees. We’re on the verge of famine in North America. It’s going to be bread and water for tailgating come September. OH THE AGONY!!!

2.) For those of you late to the party, reread the Auburn link and look at the date. Aubie was in the top 10 last year, before the story came out…. and on that point, does anyone have the link to the actual rankings for this year? I just keep finding the AP story.

Crazy.

A straightforward (if slightly complex) system of scoring academic progress across the spectrum of member institutions.

Good thing it is immune to abuse by either the institution doing the evaluating OR the institution being evaluated.

Did they move kick-offs back five yards?

Referring back to last year’s crowing and subsequent scandal was the point, I think.

Auburn’s rolling average football APR dropped significantly this year. I’ll let the rest of you figure out how much of that is due to shutting down the directed reading program in the sociology department.

http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/apr2006/37_2006_apr.pdf

#10, AU is still tops among SEC Football programs (last among men’s and women’s BBall).

Of course, the idea that Auburn is “literally giving away Sociology degrees to athletes” is total bunk. That’s what the NYT tried to report, but it didn’t hold up to scrutiny.

But assuming it’s a crooked system (both at Auburn and the NCAA) is certainly the easier route to take.

auburn has a long history of awarding degrees to dumb illiterate fucks like james brooks, bo jackson, and carnell williams

This Bammer would mock Auburn’s bogus APR to ends of the Earth but I don’t have time for this shit.

This Bammer would mock Auburn’s bogus APR to the ends of the Earth but I don’t have time for this shit.

If you go through the list of the schools on the verge for next year you’ll see that Cincy’s mens basketball team is out there toeing the 900 APR line.

Who would be Bob Huggins’ counterpart in college football? Dennis Erickson? Gary Barnett?

Auburn, The Harvard of the South?

SKLM:

I thought that was Houston (TX) Community College. No kidding: their slogan in the late 80’s/early 90’s was “Harvard on the Highway”.

there is a beacon of hope on the plains of lee county for all the mentally retarded who dream of higher education

#1, the very fact that they were able to call themselves that means that they were on no one’s radar- Harvard’s got a group of attorneys who pretty much occupy themselves with making sure people don’t use the name.

As to the APR, what, you guys want to pick on someone your own size? Where’s the fun in that?

Oops, #19 I mean.

Geaux Irsh:

That’s close to what the yokuls call Northeast Alabama CC in Rainsville (Rains-vuhl) atop beautiful Sand Mountain (AKA, Meth Mtn): “Harvard on the Hill”.

The APR has only been in effect for 3 years so Huggins was only directly involved in 1 year for Cinci so it can’t be all his fault. Unless of course he dropped a 0 in that year. Interestingly, WVU basketball is below 925 right now so Huggy bear will have to at least make an effort in Morgantown.

Oh, God, a Sand Mountain reference.

When my mom was at UAB, she was talking to one of her professors about how totally fucked up my grandmother is. The prof said it was because my grandmother was from Albertville and suffered from Sand Mountain syndrome, a nasty combination of manic-depression, paranoia and other psychoses caused by the total isolation of that area, and the inbreeding that resulted.

Nice to know.

I miss the good old days of athletic competition, when the celebrity status that being a genetic freak brought you only got you out of little things, like getting drunk and beating your wife.

RE # 14

MATT- AW man why all the anger?? You know I was really trying too think of some dumb AL athletes too make fun off, but really just cant think of any…..I guess its just been so long since you guys put any real talent in the pro’s…..
maybe ya’ll do better next season?

I’m not sure I understand your point here. What’s the problem with the NCAA forcing schools to graduate their players?

“Through an increasingly incoherent and flexible policy, the NCAA’s done little more than subsidize the growth of an industry devoted solely to countering its own policies, and one that will likely require the services of that most pricey and ornery of professionals: the attorney.”

This policy sounds plenty coherent to me. Moreover, that the policy might encourage schools to pay lawyers to fight it says nothing about the merits of the policy itself. If the SDSUs of the world aren’t educating their athletes, why should they be allowed to field football teams?

Re #28: According to the ESPN article Orson linked, “BCS teams, however, accounted for only 11 of 112 penalized teams, and no school from the BCS conferences received a warning letter.”

Orson’s point, if I understand it correctly, is that the BCS schools with Zevonesque resources will figure out ways to skate around these rules while Delaware State dies for our sins.

I just know that if HBCUs are mentioned, minorities are involved, so there must be a lawsuit in there somewhere. ;-)

“Orson’s point, if I understand it correctly, is that the BCS schools with Zevonesque resources will figure out ways to skate around these rules while Delaware State dies for our sins.”

Certainly, but this is true in any regulatory context. Its only problematic here because, as Orson and DevilGrad over at Miami Hawk Talk assert, BCS schools are better able than smaller schools to take advantage of the loopholes.

I find this difficult to believe. These non-BCS schools you speak of no doubt employ lawyers and other legal-type folks to comply with a panoply of local, state and federal regulations. If the policy is as incoherent as you guys assert—if it truly has loopholes that you can drive a truck through—then Delaware State should have no trouble skirting the policy, right?

Evidently not, if this year’s results are indicative of the long term trend. But they might not be: This is, after all, pretty early in the program. We’ll have a much better idea next year, after the squad size adjustments are eliminated, whether small schools will continue to bear the brunt of the APR sanctions.

Assuming they do, this might not be a bad thing. Its not clear from Orson’s post or the articles I’ve read that the overrepresentation of smallish schools on the APR sanction list is due to disparities in legal resources and not to, say, actual differences in satisfying the otherwise legitimate goals of the program. If Michigan is better able than FIU to provide the resources needed to graduate student athletes, then maybe FIU shouldn’t be fielding a football team.

In short: I think its too early to condemn this program as yet another instance of NCAA overreaching.

As an aside, the reaction to this APR business is the most conclusive proof yet that the NCAA can do no right by most of the blogging community. They implement a flexible program and its condemned as incoherent and loophole ridden. Had they designed an airtight, consistent, loophole free regulatory regime, everyone would be condemning Brand for overregulating.

Fantastic analysis – this story jumped right out at me when I read it, and I think your take is pretty dead-on.

1. Steve, you should be ashamed that your school was too stupid to figure out how to beat the system.

HFS, What scrutiny do you speak of? I have yet to see anyone justify the charitable degree donation on the plains.

1. and 21, as a senior in highschool trying to decide what institution of higher learning I would be learning high in, Alabama sends me a pamphlet. The heading was, and I quote, “Thinking Ivy? Think again. Think Bama”

I hate bob witt.

#17

The answer to your question….Mike Stoops!

Arizona cleaned it up real quiet like, rolling in with an 883 APR.

WOO!

#34: It’s hard to even respond to your loaded question, since you again assert that there was “charitable degree donation on the plains”. That’s false.

Numerous follow-ups by other papers and an internal investigation (that was received and accepted by both SACS and the NCAA) showed that nothing of the sort was happening. Basically, you had one guy that was providing way too many directed reading courses, because of the insufficient resources of the department. But it’s very clear that: 1.) That was done for all students in the department, not just athletes; 2.) The students still had to do and did do the work. It was a situation that needed to be changed because of the potential for abuse, but no abuse was ever found. Student took classes, did the work. Pretty simple concept. The worst thing that was found was that some athletes were taking an easy major. Duh.

In the end, there was nothing more damning to the Auburn football team than what can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/ogopc

Lotta AU haters in the house, but facts are facts. Tubs does a great job with his players on and off the field and the Terds hate it. Read ’em and weep, boys and let your over-hyped meglamaniacle athiest coach try and beat us. Right now we own you…on or off the field. :^)