University of Hawaii records highest Academic Progress Rate score in its 15-year history

The University of Hawaii posted the highest all-sport, multi-year Academic Progress Rate in its 15-year history.

Despite a drop by football, UH’s 18 NCAA-competing teams averaged a 981 on a 1,000-point scale over a four-year period, just short of the national average (983).

The APR is an NCAA metric that gauges academic performance toward a degree. To compete in the 2019-20 postseason, teams must achieve at least a 930 four-year APR, which predicts, on average, a 50% graduation rate, the NCAA said.

Teams that fall below may face sanctions, including postseason ineligibility, loss of practice time or a reduction in games.

Eight UH teams — soccer, women’s golf, women’s swimming and diving, men’s volleyball, men’s tennis, men’s swimming and diving, men’s golf and men’s basketball — managed single-year scores of 1,000 for 2017-18, the most recent year measured.

It was a particularly notable accomplishment for men’s basketball, which hit the depths of 886 just two years ago amid NCAA sanctions for rules violations that prompted heavy player turnover. School officials had earlier classified it as a “danger area” because the program could have faced NCAA sanctions with continued low performance.

Instead, the team’s latest multi-year score, 956, has reached its highest point in seven years.

Baseball achieved the highest multi-year mark, 983, in its history, a far cry from the days (2004-08) when it was docked partial or full scholarships in three of four years for low performance, and now is seven points above the national average (976) for the sport.

This time football, which underwent a roster turnover a year ago, was a single-year laggard, posting a 914 for 2017-18. But it is not in immediate danger of penalties thanks to a 952 multi-year average.

“Retention numbers were a factor in the single-year football APR score,” Matlin acknowledged in an email.

Players earn one point each semester for remaining eligible and one point for staying in school or graduating.

Matlin said, “Overall, I think we are in position to continue to improve in upcoming years.”

He said, “I am proud that our APR numbers continue to rise each year. I am even more proud that we continue to graduate our student-athletes and our cumulative GPA is at an all-time high. This success is a credit to the student-athletes as well as the Manoa faculty, Academic support staff and our coaches.”

Nationally, the NCAA said eight teams will be ineligible for the postseason due to their low scores and 20 teams at 12 schools will take penalties for not meeting the minimum standards.

MAKING THE GRADE

UH’s multi-year Academic Progress Rate

SPORT / UH SCORE / NATL. AVG.

Women’s golf 1,000 991

Soccer 1,000 989

Women’s Tennis 992 990

Women’s Swim & Dive 989 993

Women’s track and field 988 983

Softball 986 986

Cross Country 985 989

Women’s Volleyball 984 987

Baseball 983 976

Men’s golf 981 985

Men’s Swim & Dive 980 982

Men’s Tennis 975 983

Women’s basketball 973 982

Water Polo 973 985

Men’s Volleyball 961 986

Men’s basketball 956 967

Beach Volleyball 955 991

Football 952 968

Sources: UH and NCAA