Report Shows Problems

More than half of all Division I institutions would have at least one athletic team subject to penalty if reforms slated to take effect in the next academic year were already in place, according to a preliminary report released Monday by the NCAA.

The first Academic Progress Rate report, based on a survey of all NCAA-member institutions, is part of broad academic reform in which teams must satisfy minimum standards or face penalties that include eventual loss of scholarships and banishment from postseason play.

The report released Monday is regarded as a trial run because the NCAA will not begin handing down sanctions until next year. Schools have one month to make corrections to the APR data for an updated report in April. Teams must reach an APR score of 925, which equates to a graduation rate of approximately 50% -- to avoid penalties.

Three women’s sports -- field hockey, lacrosse and rowing -- earned the highest average APR of 981. Baseball (922), football (923) and men’s basketball (923) were the only sports with averages below 925.

UCLA received an overall score of 936. The football team scored 862, men’s basketball 924+ and baseball 911+. The plus sign indicates that with expected adjustments, the score would be above the cutoff line, said Erik Christianson, an NCAA spokesman. UCLA’s men’s cross-country, golf and water polo teams and women’s cross-country, golf, rowing and softball teams scored the maximum 1,000.

Petrina Long, an associate athletic director at UCLA, said “the school had concerns about some of the team scores, but had moved to address them.”

USC received an overall score of 919. The football team scored 910+, men’s basketball team 761 and baseball 878. The men’s tennis and women’s golf teams scored 1,000.

Lisa Love, a senior associate athletic director at USC, said the school would use the 30-day window to check the accuracy of the reporting and scoring of USC’s report. “Any comment on these first-round results would be premature,” she said.