NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State's Anthony Evans is tied for 12th on the national list of head men's basketball coaches who have improved their team's Academic Progress Rate scores the most over a three-year period.
Previously, the National Collegiate Athletic Association member colleges and universities adopted a comprehensive academic reform package designed to improve the academic success and graduation of all student-athletes. The centerpiece of the package is the academic measurement for teams, known as the APR. The APR is a formula which measures athlete retention and eligibility. A score of 925 equates to an approximate graduation rate of 50 percent.
In an effort to hold coaches to a higher level of accountability for their team's academic performance, the NCAA has now begun the process of keeping a database which tracks the APR scores for each head coach.
From 2006-07, the year before Evans took over as the Spartans' head coach, to 2008-09, his second year as the head coach, the men's basketball team improved its APR by 129 points. That is tied for the 12th-largest improvement in the country along with Perry Clark of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
“The results of the increased APR score for the men's basketball team reflect the commitment of coach Evans to improve the performance of his student-athletes both academically and athletically,” NSU athletics director Marty Miller said. “In addition, a great deal of credit goes to the athletics academic support staff for developing and implementing strategies to improve the academic performances of our student-athletes.”
The men's basketball team had an 833 APR in 2006-07. In 2007-08 – Evans' first season as head coach – the APR improved to 938. For 2008-09 – the last year of the period measured – the score was 962.
“We are extremely proud of the academic improvement that our student athletes have made,” Evans said. “The entire athletic staff is committed to ensuring our students are successful, both on and off the court.”
A list of the top 25 most improved coaches can be found at http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/coaching-academics.
