Miami Ohio University Athletics
Nearly Nine Out of Ten RedHawk Student-Athletes Graduate
10/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | General
Oct. 25, 2011
OXFORD, Ohio - Wednesday's NCAA's Graduation Success Rate (GSR), developed to assess the academic success of collegiate student-athletes, reveals that nearly nine out of every 10 athletes who enroll at Miami University ultimately leave the Oxford campus with one of America's most prestigious degrees.
According to the GSR calculation which measures graduation in a six-year time frame from initial college enrollment (2001-04), Miami's student-athletes' overall GSR is 89 percent, nine percent higher than the national rate.
Miami's female student-athletes combined for a nearly perfect GSR of 97 percent, while male student-athletes graded out at a highly respectable 83 percent.
The GSR of seven different RedHawk teams--women's swimming (100%), women's basketball (100%), soccer (100%), softball (100%) and volleyball (100%), men's swimming and diving (96%) and football (86%)--rank at the top or tied for best among Mid-American Conference institutions.
Other impressive rates were achieved by Miami field hockey (94%), women's cross country and track and field (92%), men's golf (89%), women's tennis (88%), men's cross country and track and field (84%) and men's basketball (82%).
Brad Bates, Miami's Director of Athletics, praised Miami's student-athletes and gave partial credit for their success to those who provided them with the opportunity to flourish in the classroom.
"The national data continues to verify the high level of intellectual engagement by our student-athletes as their scholarly performance is once again among the very best public universities in the nation," said Bates. "The high achievements of our students are not only a reflection of their scholarship, but of the high quality coaches who recruit them, the faculty who educate them, our staff that supports them, and the prestigious and pragmatic value of a Miami education."
Football, one of Miami's highest profile sports, produced a GSR that was 19 percent better than the sport's national rate of 67 percent. Football's GSR of 86 percent is 12 percent higher than the next highest MAC institution.
Inclusive of all institutions, Division 1 men's basketball recorded a GSR of 66 percent for entering classes of 2001-04, 16 percent lower than Miami's impressive rate of 82 percent.
Likewise, Miami women's basketball's 2001-04 GSR, a perfect 100 percent, was 16 percent higher than the sport's national average.
A six-year history of Miami University's graduate success rate shows that the general student body has remained steady at 91 percent for that period, just two percent higher than Miami's student-athletes. Miami's entire student body ranks among the upper echelon of the nation's public institutions of higher learning.
NCAA President Mark Emmert said the GSR for the last four graduating classes (2001-2004) hit 80 percent, a new high for Division I athletics and one point higher than the last four-year average.
"Academic reform is working. Students are better prepared when they enter college, and they are staying on track to earn their degrees," Emmert said. "Some doubted our efforts, but the resolve of our presidents is strong, and we are reaping the fruit of several years of hard work."
--www.MURedHawks.com--
