NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland – A standing-room-only audience at Friday’s Division I issues forum heard that the Division I Football Academic Working Group will present its work to the Division I Board of Directors in April.

Joe Castiglione, director of athletics at Oklahoma and the chair of the group, said the group’s initial findings are that the sport’s Academic Progress Rate problems are due more to eligibility issues rather than retention. When compared to baseball and men’s basketball student-athletes, football retention rates are higher, but eligibility rates are considerably lower.

NCAA President Myles Brand established the football group to examine the academic performance of football student-athletes and identify strategies for improvement. Any recommendations made by the group will be considered by the Division I governance structure under the normal legislative process.

“Our group has been together for eight months,” Castiglione said. “We’re sort of like the new cooks in the kitchen. We are identifying the utensils we have to work with.”

Programs in the Football Championship Subdivision and Football Bowl Subdivision have similar APRs on average, but more FCS teams are facing penalties for having low APRs.

Another finding shows that incoming freshmen in football tend to have lower high school academic profiles than any other group of student-athletes except for men’s basketball. But the first-year academic performance is worse than their basketball counterparts.

The group is also focused on what causes football student-athletes to become an “0-for-2” in the APR calculation (when the student-athlete leaves a program ineligible). Generally, 0-for-2s are most likely to occur in the FBS after a student-athlete has exhausted his eligibility. In the FCS, 0-for-2s are more likely in the first year of enrollment.

Two-year transfers are the most likely candidates to become 0-for-2s.

Castiglione noted that the group is examining retention issues, including lost APR points for players who matriculate to professional football before exhausting their eligibility. The group will also evaluate the academic performance of postgraduate student-athletes and discuss whether students who graduate with remaining eligibility should remain in the APR cohort.

Other issues under consideration include:

• Minimum academic requirements for spring football activities.
• A required academic year in residence for two-year transfers.
• Core-course curriculum for two-year transfers.
• Require summer school for teams with low APRs.

The group will also evaluate best practices of institutions that have high APR scores. Part of this includes an evaluation of institutions with limited resources. The group wants to explore options for FCS summer school resources as well.