Brand: Formula Is a Work in Progress
NCAA President Myles Brand said Thursday that there was no final formula yet for the Academic Progress Rate (APR), which will be implemented during the 2005-06 school year and can bring substantial penalties to schools whose graduation rates fall under a certain, predetermined level.
One of the more controversial components of the APR is one that penalizes schools that have athletes transfer or leave college early to pursue pro careers.
Brand said at a news conference in conjunction with the Final Four in St. Louis that the new rule was not intended to penalize schools that have a high concentration of athletes who leave school early to make money playing their sport.
A trial report on APR numbers was released last month. The APR is supposed to be based on a team having a 50% graduation rate over a five-year period.
Pat Kennedy, basketball coach at Towson State, and Kelvin Sampson, Oklahoma’s coach, said numbers get sticky when a player transfers for good reasons -- because a new coach who plays a different system is hired or a player moves closer to home for family reasons.
And a program can be penalized if a baseball player is drafted during his junior year and decides to accept the minor league offer or if an NFL-caliber player leaves school in January during his senior season to attend the NFL combine and private workouts.
“It needs to be looked at,” Brand said. “People recognize that it’s a complex way of looking at things, but there is also a good understanding that the issue themselves are complex. You can’t find a simple solution to a complex problem.”
-- Diane Pucin
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Gonzaga assistant Bill Grier removed his name from consideration for the coaching vacancy at Loyola Marymount and said he would stay with the Bulldogs. The move leaves Arizona assistant Rodney Tention and FSN analyst and former NBA player Jack Haley as the two main candidates to replace Steve Aggers, who was fired after five seasons earlier this month. Haley interviewed with Loyola Athletic Director Bill Husak on Wednesday.
Loyola spokesman John Shaffer said the job could be offered as soon as today, though a formal announcement may not come until after Monday night’s NCAA championship game.
-- Eric Stephens
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West Virginia Coach John Beilein received a two-year contract extension through the 2011-12 season. His base salary will be $700,000 a year, with annual increases of $20,000.