Jan. 12, 2016
San Antonio, Texas — Vanderbilt Head Coach Derek Mason accepted the 2015 Academic Achievement Award Monday from the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).
Mason accepted the award that recognizes graduate rate successes on the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level at the AFCA President’s Luncheon that helped kick off the organization’s 93rd annual convention. Vanderbilt and Duke were co-recipients of the award.
The Academic Achievement Award recognition capped an excellent year for the Commodores in the classroom. Forty-four team members — 33 upperclassmen and 11 freshmen — were Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll recipients. Twenty-four student-athletes earned Dean’s List recognition, including six members with perfect 4.0 semester grades.
Mason received the Academic Achievement Award trophy from representatives of the AFCA and co-sponsoring Touchdown Club of Memphis. The Commodores and Duke shared the award in 2015 after both programs were the only FCS teams to graduate 100 percent of their 2008 freshman class.
“I take great pride in accepting the Academic Achievement Award on behalf of Vanderbilt University and our football team,” Mason said. “I want to thank the coaches association and Touchdown Club of Memphis for sponsoring an award to honors academic success at the collegiate level.”
“Accepting this award says a tremendous amount about Vanderbilt’s ongoing commitment to academic achievement. It goes directly to the expectations of all young men entering the Commodore program, that every student-athlete will strive to reach his potential off the field and in the classroom,” Mason added.
Mason praised the contribution of Vanderbilt Athletics’ academic support staff guided by Director Elizabeth Wright in accepting the trophy.
“I can’t say enough about the job Elizabeth and her staff, especially Eugene (Henderson), Max-Maurice (Martin) and Sara (Sanders) do guiding Vanderbilt student-athletes through the academic side of campus life,” Mason said. “While reflecting positively on the performance of our players, this trophy also speaks to the expert guidance and superb support by the academic center.”
This marks the fourth year that Vanderbilt has received the Academic Achievement Award. The Commodores were sole winners of the award in 2008 and shared the shared the honor with Boston College in 1996 and Notre Dame in 2001. Vanderbilt has an annual contender for the trophy, also earning 21 honorable mention finishes.
The Academic Achievement Award was established in 1981 by the College Football Association. The award recognized the CFA-member Football Bowl Subdivision institution with the highest graduation rate among members of its football team. When the organization disbanded in 1997, the AFCA and Touchdown Club of Memphis stepped in to present the award and conduct a graduation rate survey that encompasses all FBS members.