Meeting Meehan
President discusses football, academics and the stadium
Doran Smith
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: News
Smith: Students are upset about the stadium expansion because some of the football players are on academic probation and we can't even win the conference championship because of it? Is that right?
Meehan: We did not meet the historical 4 year average for our APR (academic progress rate). Every athletic team for every student that is a scholarship athlete has two points they have to earn. The first is earned by staying in school and working toward your degree. Two -being academically eligible. Two of our teams fell below those; our men's basketball team and our football team. This year they have already repaired that.
They were put on probation-put on restriction. We appealed with the NCAA. We had some penalties. There were scholarship reduction penalties, practice time penalties as well as the fact that we were not eligible for post season play. That means that you cannot win your conference championship and go on to the NCAA this year. But I can tell you that the team has already met that challenge. They will be academically, significantly above the minimum APR scores that are required by the NCAA. When the NCAA releases that information in the spring, both teams will be significantly above the minimum.
Smith: What would you say to students who don't understand why we are pouring so much money into the football stadium when our football players haven't met the guidelines for good academic standing?
Meehan: Well, you have to remember that is a historical 4-year average. So a lot of those who are currently playing football are not the ones that are responsible for that. They have made their good grades. But it is not just about that. As you know in the south, football is the number 1 sport. This is not true in other states. Football in the south is a social event for us. The stadium expansion will allow participation for more individuals and a type of football experience that we have not had here. This will give us the opportunity to bring in corporate entities and for them to have suites. That also puts the university in position in the future that, if they want to go to the bowl subdivision of division 1 (we are division 1 now and have been since 1995), we will have our physical facilities prepared and ready to go.
Meehan: We did not meet the historical 4 year average for our APR (academic progress rate). Every athletic team for every student that is a scholarship athlete has two points they have to earn. The first is earned by staying in school and working toward your degree. Two -being academically eligible. Two of our teams fell below those; our men's basketball team and our football team. This year they have already repaired that.
They were put on probation-put on restriction. We appealed with the NCAA. We had some penalties. There were scholarship reduction penalties, practice time penalties as well as the fact that we were not eligible for post season play. That means that you cannot win your conference championship and go on to the NCAA this year. But I can tell you that the team has already met that challenge. They will be academically, significantly above the minimum APR scores that are required by the NCAA. When the NCAA releases that information in the spring, both teams will be significantly above the minimum.
Smith: What would you say to students who don't understand why we are pouring so much money into the football stadium when our football players haven't met the guidelines for good academic standing?
Meehan: Well, you have to remember that is a historical 4-year average. So a lot of those who are currently playing football are not the ones that are responsible for that. They have made their good grades. But it is not just about that. As you know in the south, football is the number 1 sport. This is not true in other states. Football in the south is a social event for us. The stadium expansion will allow participation for more individuals and a type of football experience that we have not had here. This will give us the opportunity to bring in corporate entities and for them to have suites. That also puts the university in position in the future that, if they want to go to the bowl subdivision of division 1 (we are division 1 now and have been since 1995), we will have our physical facilities prepared and ready to go.
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