BULLS NEWS

Two Programs Awarded With APP Public Recognition Awards

The award is given to teams who are in the top 10 percent based on Academic Progress Rates (APR). Preliminary two-year APR data indicate that a 10-percent-per-sport recognition format would result in 1,049 (about 17 percent) of all 6,071 Division I squads being honored this year. That total is expected to decrease slightly as more years of APR data are collected and fewer teams maintain a perfect APR score. About 30 percent of teams posted 1,000 APRs in the first year, and it appears that about half of those teams will maintain perfect APR scores once two-year APR data are finalized.

“This is an outstanding achievement for these two programs,” said Buffalo Athletics Director Warde Manuel. “We hope that in the future more of our teams will be given this distinction as it is a credit to our coaches and staff who put in a lot of time and effort to make sure our student-athletes have academic success and become proud UB alumni.”

Last season, the men’s tennis team finished with an APR score of 1,000, the highest result a team can accumulate. The women’s swimming and diving team finished with a score of 992, well above the 925 national average. Overall last year, the Bulls saw 10 teams improve their rates after the initial scores were released last winter and had 15 of its 20 teams above the standard 925 score.

The focus of the APR is to provide a real-time snapshot of an institution’s current academic progress. The scores are based upon retention and academic eligibility of all student-athletes who are currently on athletic aid.