NCAA’s academic data show rate gains

The NCAA released figures on athletes’ graduation rates for those enrolled from 1997 to 2000, and the data show slight improvements in the three poorest-performing sports -- men’s basketball, football and baseball.

“Overall, the trend data is up,” NCAA President Myles Brand said, “and it’s very heartening.”

With Brand saying he expected every sport at every school to be aiming at a graduation rate of at least 60%, there were a couple of exceptions for USC and UCLA.

USC’s basketball team had a graduation rate of 29%, and UCLA’s was 40%. In football, USC was at 57% and UCLA was at 56%.

UCLA senior associate athletic director Petrina Long said it was important to note that neither basketball Coach Ben Howland nor football Coach Karl Dorrell was the coach for this measurement period.

“We’re always concerned about the rates,” Long said, “and we’d like them to be more in the 80s and 90s. That’s where we’re shooting to be.”

Long also noted that UCLA soccer, which had a relatively low score of 41%, was in a unique position. “We’re one of the few schools that have significant numbers of players leaving and going into the MLS,” Long said. “That makes our soccer program more like baseball programs.”

Magdi el-Shawawy, USC’s associate athletic director in charge of student-athletes academic services, said that “it’s always a concern,” in regard to the school’s basketball rate. “But this is a reflection of time that, in some cases, was two coaching staffs ago. But, yes, looking across the Pac-10, that 29 was certainly a number that stuck out as a concern.”

Among Pacific 10 Conference schools in men’s basketball and football, only Arizona’s 25% men’s basketball rate was lower than USC’s.

This is the third year the NCAA has released this data, but the more important numbers are released in the spring. The Academic Progress Report (APR) measures eligibility and retention and can be used by the NCAA to take away scholarships or ban teams from postseason play if teams consistently fail to meet certain standards.

diane.pucin@latimes.com