Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 3, 1993 TAG: 9307030099
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The former Virginia Tech tailback asked Via, the school's athletic academic adviser, if his summer school schedule was set. Hebron wants to play in the NFL. He also wants a college degree, and, after four years in school, he was 10 hours short.
That scenario may happen more often now than it did in the mid-1980s. Virginia Tech fared poorly in an NCAA report of athletic graduation rates for the classes that entered school in 1983, '84 and '85, issuing degrees to about four out of every 10 athletes.
Percentages have changed. The athletic administration, which had operated autonomously until 1987, was overhauled. The athletic advising office, which some former players said was concerned only with keeping them eligible to play, now rides some players like an academic coach. Advisers monitor strengthened rules designed to force athletes to work toward a degree.
Tech is graduating more student-athletes within six years of their enrollment, and it appears the trend will continue. Retention rates - measuring the percentage of athletes who stay in school from year to year - also are up since 1987.
Via said his office stresses freshman-year academics, because "if you get off to a very poor start, you're constantly bailing water.
"We have an open-door policy. We stomp out a lot of brush fires."
Tech's attention to its athletes' studies increased shortly after NCAA rules violations at the school came to light in 1986.
"In the late '80s, Virginia Tech got fairly well browbeat by the governor [Gerald Baliles] for not concentrating enough on academics, and I think the administration took it to heart," said Peter Blake of the State Council of Higher Education.
"You make it a priority, and you will get results."
Everything from the low morale during Tech's NCAA probation from 1987-89 to individual laziness to a lack of focus on academics has been blamed for the deficient graduation rates. Reasons for the recent rise are just as numerous:
Proposition 48 first affected the 1986-87 class, requiring a 2.0 grade-point average and minimum scores on the Scholastic Assessment Test or the American College Test for freshman eligibility. Because Tech does not admit Prop 48 non-qualifiers - but did before the rule was passed - Tech's current recruits in general are better prepared for college.
In May 1988, Tech instituted a rule requiring that students take classes that count toward their degree. (For example, when a student completes 72 credit hours, at least 24 must be in his or her major.) Before that, a student only had to maintain a minimum grade-point average to stay eligible for athletics.
NCAA rules require that an athlete earn 24 credit hours per academic year. Two years ago, the NCAA also passed a rule limiting to six the number of credit hours an athlete can earn in summer school.
In the mid-1980s, Tech athletes were required to go to study hall if their GPA fell below 2.0. Now, Via said, an athlete who falls below 2.2 is required to spend 10 hours per week in study hall. Once an athlete earns 71 or more credit hours, he or she must maintain a 2.0 to be eligible. "Too many of the upperclassmen tried to shave it too close," said Via, who added that the 2.2 study-hall threshold was set in 1989.
Freshmen, regardless of their GPA, have mandatory study hall.
Via's office - which answers to the university administration - was created and given expanded responsibility for all student-athletes and programs such as mid-semester grade reports.
"There's a lot of intervention, and intervention is a key," said Wanda Dean, Tech's registrar.
Here are some notable figures:
The graduation rate for black student-athletes rose from 17 percent in the NCAA study to 73 percent (eight out of 11) for the class entering in '86-87. However, the rate for all black students fell from a three-year average of 45 percent to 32 percent.
Female athletes graduate at a higher rate than male athletes. Eighty percent of women in the '86-87 class graduated compared to 52 percent of men.
The baseball team's graduation rate was 25 percent in the three-year NCAA study (including 14 percent in '85-86). However, six of eight players (75 percent) in the '86-87 class received degrees.
The football graduation rate was 29 percent for the '85-86 class, but 47 percent for the '86-87 group.
The men's basketball rate slipped slightly from a three-year average of 30 percent to 25 percent for the '86-87 class.
by CNB