Football, Baseball and Men’s Basketball Post Record Multi-Year Scores

The NCAA on Wednesday announced Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and Federal Graduation Rate for the 2009-10 to 2012-13 freshman cohorts for all Division I institutions as part of the annual NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program.

This year’s Tennessee-specific data revealed an overall multi-year GSR of 87 percent—the highest in UT history. It marked the seventh straight year of improvement in Tennessee’s multi-year score.

Tennessee received a particularly strong showing from three of its high-profile men’s sports, as football (74 percent), baseball (86 percent) and men’s basketball (90 percent) all posted record multi-year scores. Six other teams—women’s golf, rowing, softball, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and volleyball—earned perfect 100 scores.

Tennessee’s single-year (2012 cohort) GSR of 90 percent also was its all-time best, as a dozen teams posted a single-year GSR of 100 percent.

“A key component of our mission is to prepare our student-athletes to graduate, lead and positively impact the world,” Tennessee Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer said. “These GSR numbers validate those efforts and are a credit to the commitment of our student-athletes and the efforts of our Thornton Center staff. Our overall GSR has risen each year since 2012, which is outstanding.”

The GSR is calculated differently than the Federal Graduation Rate (FGR). The GSR allows institutions to add scholarship transfers that fit into their respective freshman cohorts and remove those students that choose to leave and are academically eligible according to NCAA Progress-Toward-Degree-Requirements.

One of Tennessee Athletics’ key objectives is to graduate student-athletes and prepare them for real-world experiences. In 2001, the University of Tennessee opened the Thornton Athletics Student Life Center to provide student-athletes with superior academic support programs and personal and career development assistance.

Sport-Specific Highlights (Multi-Year GSR)

• Volleyball earned a perfect 100 for the 13th consecutive year.
• Rowing earned a perfect 100 for the sixth consecutive year.
• Men’s tennis earned a perfect 100 for the fifth consecutive year.
• Women’s golf earned a perfect 100 for the fourth consecutive year.
• Women’s tennis earned a perfect 100 for the fourth consecutive year.
• Men’s basketball posted a program-record score of 90 percent.
• Baseball posted a program-record score of 86 percent.
• Football tied its all-time best score, with a score of 74 percent (tied with last year’s score).

UT Athletics