NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For the fifth time, Vanderbilt football has received the American Football Coaches Association’s Academic Achievement Award, presented by the Memphis Touchdown Club.
Vanderbilt, along with six other schools, recorded a 100 percent graduation rate for the members of its 2015 freshman football student-athlete class. Air Force, Boston College, Navy, Northwestern, Stanford and Toledo have also earned the recognition for 2022.
Presented since 1981, Vanderbilt’s five honors are sixth-most in FBS and it is one of just 13 programs in FBS to have won the award multiple times. This year’s designation is the first for the Commodores since 2015. Vanderbilt also captured the award in 2008, 2001 and 1996.
The award is selected based on the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate.
The GSR is based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes and holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees and non-scholarship students at schools that do not offer athletics aid. Under GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are passed to the receiving institution’s GSR cohort.
The Academic Achievement Award was established by the College Football Association in 1981. The award recognized the CFA-member Football Bowl Subdivision institution with the highest graduation rate among members of its football team. When the CFA disbanded in 1997, the AFCA stepped in to present the award.
