Here's an article about Gator Football academics. Gators Perform Well In The Classroom Gator Country Staff | January 4, 2008 GAINESVILLE, Fla. - More than 46 percent of the University of Florida football student athletes earned above a 3.0 grade point average in the 2007 Fall semester, head coach Urban Meyer announced Friday. "We had another great semester in the classroom,” said Meyer. “Our players continue to improve in their academic studies and that is a tribute to their commitment to excellence both on and off the field.” Overall, 53 players posted above a 3.0 GPA, including 33 scholarship players and the team posted an overall GPA of 2.81. Those numbers were higher than UF’s record-setting numbers from the spring semester when 37 percent of scholarship players, earned a 3.0 GPA or higher and the team GPA was 2.77. The number of players above a 3.0 GPA and the cumulative team average are the highest for the football team since records have been kept. The Florida football team also posted a 72 percent graduation success rate according to data released by the NCAA this fall. Team Grade Point Averages Under Urban Meyer Spring 2004.......2.45 Fall 2005...........2.65 Spring 2006.......2.68 Fall 2006...........2.72 Spring 2007.......2.77 Fall 2007...........2.81
Congrats Bill....there is no doubt in my mind that if the football team is going to be successful in the classroom that there has to be an instituitonal commitment to that goal. I have on a number of times opined that Notre Dames players aren't necessarily smarter than the players at Texas, but that there is a commiment up and down the line to the academic side. It's not just left up to the coach, at ND all our coaches have teams with great success in the classroom because it's demanded. Also I think that Irish football players having to live on campus for at least the 1st 2 years where they are surrounded by high achieving classmates who go to class and are used to academic success sort of rubs off on them...all boats rise with the tide. I would assume that the same goes on at Boston College, Northwestern, Penn State and the others that are always on the top of the academics list when those reports are released. At Texas players aren't required to live in dorms, and while they have lots of academic counseling and a student center for them to study in and all that sort of thing I've never gotten the feel that there is a deep instuitional commitment to them doing better in the classroom...so we are always embarassingly low on the academic totem pole and Texas in general is one of the top public schools in the country and the overall student body is for the most part in the top 10% of their high school at a min. Terry