USC football: Trojans 11th in Pac-12 for players’ graduation rates

The NCAA released national Graduation Success Rates on Thursday for athletes who entered school from 2003 to 2006, and USC’s football program had a 53% graduation rate, which ranked 11th in the Pac-12 Conference.

Dr. Magdi El Shahawy, a senior associate athletic director who oversees USC’s Student-Athlete Academic Services, told the school’s website that many of the players who were NFL draft picks during that time left school before completing their degrees. Some have returned to finish their degrees, he said.

USC’s men’s basketball program had a 55% graduation rate. The figure was also affected by players who turned pro, the website said.

“Every Trojan women’s team and the men’s golf, swimming, tennis and water polo teams all had GSRs of at least 80%,” the website said.

In a statement on the website, El Shahawy said: “We are committed to excellence in the classroom for all of our student-athletes, and we are very proud of the top-end GSRs posted by most of our teams. The football and men’s basketball GSR numbers are disappointing when viewed simply as a percentage rate and without an understanding of why they are not as high as we would like.

“Certainly, those figures are not a reflection of the current academic state of our overall athletic program.”

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