Complete Chicago State APR Report
CHICAGO – Five Chicago State University athletic programs posted perfect single-year Academic Progress Data scores in 2011-12, according to the data released by the NCAA on Tuesday (June 11). Included in those five teams is Chicago State's men's basketball program. Head coach
Tracy Dildy's squad is the only NCAA Division I program in the city of Chicago to post a perfect 2011-12 score.
Chicago State's women's basketball, women's tennis, women's golf and men's tennis teams make up the Cougars' other single-year 2011-12 perfect scores of 1,000.
APR is a real-time measure of eligibility and retention of student-athletes competing on every Division I sports team. Multi-year APR scores released on Tuesday are based on the averages from the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 academic years.
Of Chicago State's 14 teams, 10 improved their multi-year rate in the latest report from the previous year.
“The numbers show we're heading in the right direction,” Chicago State Athletic Director Dan Schumacher said. “However, I have higher expectations for the department and our student-athletes. We've made serious investments in human capital in the department in terms of academic support, compliance and in specific head coaching positions. There has never been more NCAA experience in the Chicago State Athletic Department. I'm expecting that investment, combined with a shift in our recruiting focus on students with a higher academic profile, will result in further improvement of our APR scores and graduation rates.”
The clearest sign of Chicago State's academic improvement comes from the men's basketball team. When Dildy took over he faced scholarship reductions and a postseason ban due to low APR scores. In his first year on the job in 2010-11, Dildy compiled a 957 single-year APR. His 2011-12 single-year score released on Tuesday is a perfect 1,000. In addition to being the only perfect score in Chicago, it's one of only two perfect scores in the state of Illinois. SIUE owns the state's other 1,000.
“Tracy walks the walk when it comes to putting academics first,” Associate Athletic Director for Academic Services
Karen Schiferl said. “He came into a challenging situation, and as the yearly numbers clearly indicate, he has changed the academic culture of the program. While he will get to raise a conference championship banner in the fall, I know he is just as proud of these numbers.”
Chicago State's women's basketball program under head coach
Angela Jackson continued their impressive scores in the latest data. Jackson's single-year perfect 1,000 score is the second of her career at Chicago State. The Cougars' multi-year average based on data from 2008-12 campaigns is 984, the highest for the program since the NCAA began calculating APR data in 2005.
Only women's tennis, which owns a perfect 1,000 over the those four years, put together a better multi-year rate at Chicago State than women's basketball. Women's tennis earned the NCAA's Public Recognition Award last week for their perfect APR. Chicago State tennis head coach
Jack Barton also saw his men's tennis program earn a perfect single-year 1,000 for 2011-12. Kyle Stefan's women's golf team's single-year 1,000 is the second consecutive for the program.
“Angela and Jack's four-year total is a number all of our head coaches should be trying to attain,” Schumacher said. “I'm proud of their student-athletes accomplishments.”
Last year three Chicago State programs faced APR penalties. This year one team will enter the season with a reduced practice time penalty.
“We're going to continue to work with the NCAA to enact programs to improve APR,” Schiferl said. “It's a process, but as we continue to improve APR, we will see Graduation Success Rates and Federal Graduation Rates also rise.”
The Cougars join the Western Athletic Conference July 1.
