Utah universities miss some marks in report

Nine athletic programs at the state's five universities — including four at BYU — rated below the cutoff mark in the Academic Progress Report (APR) released Monday by the NCAA, and all could be in jeopardy of losing scholarships if the numbers don't improve.

Only three programs — BYU men's volleyball (797), women's golf (833) and Utah baseball (850) — fall considerably below the mandated 925.

Utah men's basketball (921), Utah State men's basketball (904) and BYU football (914) fall below the magic number, but have been deemed in compliance due to the Confidence Interval Adjustment, which takes into consideration several factors that may be identified as under-performing in this year's report. Those programs will not be subject to penalty once the adjusted score is applied.

Essentially, the statistical "confidence boundary" is the equivalent of wiggle room in the data, which may change the figure posted Monday because of a mathematical margin for error once more data is collected.

"We probably didn't quite reach the figure we thought we would with those four sports, but it is still early, and this could be corrected if those sports maintain athletes who are academically eligible," said BYU assistant athletic department compliance director Chad Gwilliam.

Said Duane Busby, director of BYU football operations, "Athletic directors all over the country are looking at this APR and concerned about a misleading message.

"A sport could be well below the 925 figure and not be in any kind of danger of a penalty (loss of scholarships) if they don't have any athletes go 0 for 2 (ineligible athletes who don't return)."

BYU football will most likely conform completely to the cutoff when it counts, Busby said.

The NCAA has yet to define "waivers," which take into account reasons some athletes leave school in good academic standing. The reasons could be a transfer due to a coaching change, somebody leaving early for the NFL or NBA, or, as in the case of BYU, dismissal due to a problem with the honor code.

"The NCAA has yet to determine how this reform applies to a school's 'mission statement,' which includes BYU or service institutions where an athlete at an academy like Air Force may drop out after a year because he no longer is interested in a military career," Busby said.

The figures released Monday are for one academic year only, and on the NCAA Web site (ncaa.org) there are disclaimers throughout the release of information that the data is preliminary.