March 29, 2005

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. - Under new guidelines passed by the NCAA, the University of North Carolina swimming and diving programs received perfect scores of 1000 for both the men's and women's squads in the initial scores released on Tuesday.

The NCAA introduced Academic Progress Reports (APR's) on all Division I instituitions in February. The score is a snapshot of a team's academic performance. Each scholarship athlete can score two points - one based on a minimal GPA, the other for returning to school the next semester. The APR is the total points scored by the team, divided by the total points possible, and multiplied by 1,000.

A men's swimming team, for instance, has 9.9 scholships. If one swimmer elects to leave school early, but in good academic standing; he scores one point (out of a possibe two). Another player gets a D-average and quits school; he scores zero points. Everyone else is in good academic standing and stays in school; they score 16 points. The team's APR is 17 divided by 20 (0.850), multiplied by 1,000 (850). Because 850 is below the 925 cutoff, the team won't be allowed to re-award the scholarship of the player who dropped out in poor academic standing for one year.

An APR of 1,000 is perfect. a score both of Coach Frank Comfort's teams achieved. An APR of 925 equates to about a 50-percent graduation rate and is considered minimally acceptable. Anything below 925 subjects a team to possible scholarship reductions.

Teams below 925 will not be able to replace for one year the grants-in-aid of players who left as academic casualties during the previous academic year.