2009-2010 College Football Bowl Coaches APR Lifetime Averages & Ranking

Dec. 23, 2009 - PRLog -- 2009-2010 BOWL COACHES’ LIFETIME APR RANKING
PUBLISHED BY THE CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON SPORT IN SOCIETY (CRSIS)

The Academic Progress Rate (also known as APR) is a real-time metric established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to measure the success or failure of collegiate athletic teams in moving student-athletes towards graduation. Teams with APR rates below 925 are subject to contemporaneous and historical penalties including loss of scholarships and post-season bans.  A team APR of 925 is roughly the equivalent of a 50 percent graduation rate. An APR rate is not the best indicator of a coaches’ success in graduating student-athletes, but it is the best indicator of retention and eligibility – two precursors of student-athlete graduation.

Academically the NCAA is moving towards its harshest APR penalty phase and there is increasing interest in coaches’ lifetime rates.  In March 2010 the NCAA will begin computing Division I coaches’ APR rates.  Coaches’ APR rates will not be used as a tool to assess or punish coaches (and subsequently their teams).  Instead there is hope that universities will consider coaches’ APR’s in hiring decisions.  

If there were an 8-team college playoff, which factored in APR’s & BCS standings, then it would include TCU, Florida, Boise State, Georgia Tech, Penn State, Miami, Utah and Wisconsin.


APR    Coach, School                                 BCS     APR
Rank                                                                  Rank   Average
1   Troy Calhoun, Air Force (1)               NR   983
2   Ken Niumatalolo, Navy (1)                        46   978
3   Randy Shannon, Miami (1)               15   977
4   Greg Schiano, Rutgers (4)                       NR   972
5   Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern (2)       35   971
6   Paul Robinson, GT/Navy (4)                   9   969
7   Joe Paterno, Penn State (4)               13   964
8   Mark Richt, Georgia (4)                       29   963
9   Jeff Tedford, California (4)                       28   961
10   Urban Myer, Florida/Utah (4)                 5   960
11   Gary Patterson, Texas Christian (4)       4     959
12   Chris Petersen, Boise State (2)                 6   959
13   Randy Edsall, Connecticut (4)               44   959
14   Kyle Whittingham, Utah (3)               23   949
15   Bobby Bowden, Florida State (4)       NR   949
16   Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois (4)               NR   949
17   Bret Bielema, Wisconsin (2)               25   948
18   Butch Davis, UNC (2)                               37   947
19   Bobby Petrino, Ark./Louisville (3)       30   947
20   Pat Hill, Fresno State (4)                       NR   947
21   Jim Tressel, Ohio State (4)                         8   946
22   Mike Sherman, Texas A&M (1)               NR   946
23   Nick Saban, Alabama (2)                          1   945
24   Dave Wannstedt, Pittsburgh (3)       17   945
25   Pete Carroll, Southern California (4)   24   945
26   Bronco Mendenhall, Brig. Young (3)   14   944
27   Rich Brooks, Kentucky (4)                       NR   944
28   Frank Solich, Ohio (3)                               NR   943
29   Kirk Ferentz, Iowa (4)                               10   942
30   Mack Brown, Texas (4)                          2   939
31   Les Miles, LSU/Oregon State (4)       12   939
32   Bill Stewart, West Virginia (1)               16   939
33   Bob Stoops, Oklahoma (4)                       38   939
34   Gary Pinkel, Missouri (4)                       39   938
35   Mark DAntonio, Michigan St./Cin. (4)  NR   935
36   Gene Chizik, Auburn/Iowa State (1)    36   935
37   Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State (3)       19   932
38   Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech (4)       11   931
39   George O’Leary, Central Florida (4)    NR   931
40   Houston Nutt, Ole Miss/Arkansas (4)   31   930
41   Mike Leach, Texas Tech (3)               34   929
42   Chris Ault, Nevada (4)                       46   928
43   Larry Blakeney, Troy (4)                       41   927
44   Brian Kelly, ND/Cin./Central Mich. (4)   3   924
45   Rick Stockstill, Middle Tenn State (2)  43   923
46   Mike Riley, Oregon State (4)               18   921
47   Steve Spurrier, South Carolina (3)       40   921
48   Skip Holtz, East Carolina (4)               32   921
49   June Jones, SMU/Hawaii (4)               NR   917
50   Tim Brewster, Minnesota (1)               NR   915
51   Jim Leavitt, South Florida (4)               NR   914
52   Jim Harbaugh, Stan/San Diego (4)      21   907
53   Mike Stoops, Arizona (4)                       20   897
54   Al Golden, Temple (2)                               45   879

Summary of the Findings
32 coaches had sub 925 APR rates between 2004 and 2008
27 coaches had downward ticks between 05/06 and 07/08
20 coaches had upward ticks between 05/06 and 07/08
11 bowl team coaches have an APR lifetime average below 925
 6 of the 15 coaches with “two school” APR’s are in the bottom 20
 3 the APR ranking of the only Black coach among bowl team coaches
 1 the number of coaches who have not achieved an APR above 921 in 4 years
 0 the number of coaches with sub-925 lifetime average who have been penalized

Best APR Rates (based on number of years of APR data as a head coach)
4 years - Greg Schiano, Rutgers (972)
3 years - Kyle Whittingham, Utah (949)
2 years - Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern (971)
1 years - Troy Calhoun, Air Force (983)

Methods
The data was compiled using the NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program (APP) data for academic years 2003/2004 through 2007/2008.  First, it was determined which coaches and teams were invited to a 2009/2010 football bowl game.  Next, it was determined whether coaches of 2009-2010 bowl teams coached multiple teams since the NCAA began calculating APR rates in 2003/2004. Lifetime is defined by the numbers of years members of the sample were a head coach.  Afterwards, the multi-year APR rate for each year, between 2004/2005 and 2007/2008, was documented using NCAA APP public records. The 2003-2004 APP data was excluded because the legislation did not take affect until 2005 and all football programs received a 926. Data was collected for all years the 2009/2010 football bowl coaches were Division I head coaches. All the yearly scores were added and divided by the number of years the coach was a head coach and data were collected. If the coach that started the year with the team, then they were assigned the APR rate for that year.

Comments
•   “If anyone expects that a football coaches’ lifetime APR rates will impact whether a school is going to hire, then their expectations are a bit too lofty.”

•   “If an APR of 925 translates into a 50 percent graduation rate, then I wonder about the APR rate for Black football players at some of these schools.”

•   “ Since we are based in New Jersey and I am on faculty at Rutgers I am especially excited over Coach Schiano, his academic staff, the student-athletes and their APR rate.”  

•   “The alarming finding is that 11 coaches have a sub-925 lifetime APR average.  These coaches need to give these football student-athletes the education they deserve for the enormous contribution they make to the coaches’ financial coffers.”

•   “Based on our data, if coaches got paid more based on their APR rates then Coach (Nick) Saban would make a little more than Coach (Mack) Brown.”

•   “In our analysis, the Top 10 are the cream of the crop because their APR rates suggest they are graduating 80 or so percent of their football student-athletes.”  

•   “Fourteen of the bottom 20 coaches have 4 years of APR data on the books and have been at their institutions longer than that. This raises the question of whether these coaches need to receive a meaningful penalty before they show some progress?”

•   “There are 11 coaches who lead teams in the BCS Top 25.  It is pleasantly surprising and those universities should be happy to have these coaches lead these young men.”

•   “If we must point out a serious concern it would be that several of the coaches mentioned for this years’ crop of primetime jobs have APR lifetime averages that are relatively low.”