May 21, 2015
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Vanderbilt football team and seven other Commodore squads will receive Public Recognition Awards for their most recent multi-year Academic Progress Rate scores, the NCAA announced.
The Commodores are the only Southeastern Conference football program earning the Public Recognition Award.
Vanderbilt’s eight-team total receiving recognition also is the most among SEC schools.
The eight Commodore programs were recognized for posting multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all schools in their respective sports. Nationally among FBS institutions, Vanderbilt had the eighth-most programs honored in 2015.
Other Vanderbilt varsity teams recognized in addition to football were bowling, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, and women’s indoor/outdoor track.
This is the 10th year, the NCAA has provided Public Recognition Awards. In each of those years, Vanderbilt’s men’s cross country team has been honored, making it one of just 129 programs to receive the honor all 10 years. Vanderbilt’s football and women’s outdoor track programs were the only SEC programs to be honored in their respective sports.
The most programs Vanderbilt has had receive Public Recognition Awards is 10, which occurred in 2011 and 2012. The annual announcement of awards takes into the account APR scores from the previous four years. The 2015 APRs are based on scores from the 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14.
In total, the NCAA honored 1,124 Division I teams, including a record 953 teams with perfect APR scores. The APR scores for all Division I teams will be announced May 27.
The APR annually measures eligibility, graduation and retention each semester or quarter and provides a clear picture of the academic performance for each team in each sport.
Teams must meet a certain academic threshold to qualify for postseason competition. Teams can face penalties for continued low academic performance.
Vanderbilt’s Public Recognition Awards By Year:
2006 – 4
2007 – 2
2008 – 2
2009 – 3
2010 – 7
2011 – 10
2012 – 10
2013 – 8
2014 – 7
2015 – 8
