June 16, 2011
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By Joe Hornstein
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Under head football coach George O'Leary, the UCF football team's APR (Academic Progress Rate) has been a mark of academic achievement for the Knights. According to the NCAA Website Database in the Coach's APR portfolio section, since Coach O'Leary's first active season as head coach beginning in 2004-05, the football squad data has been as follows:
2004-05: 929
2005-06: 973
2006-07: 965
2007-08: 971
2008-09: 977
2009-10: 973
The first year of the APR records was 2003-04, where the program recorded a listed 880. Under O'Leary, the team's multi-year APR has continued to blossom where it now stands at a 971 following the recent 2009-10 release in late May. Amongst FBS institutions, UCF football's multi-year APR has recorded the following notes:
• UCF football's multi-year APR of 971 is tied for 18th nationally amongst FBS institutions, with Notre Dame and Wake Forest.
• UCF is 10th in the nation for football APR amongst public FBS schools, exempting service academies Navy and Air Force.
• UCF ranks eighth nationally amongst schools from non-automatic qualifying BCS Conferences and Notre Dame.
• UCF's 971 trails only Miami (979) and Florida (976) amongst Florida's 10 Division I football teams.
• The Knights' lofty APR trails only Rice (983) amongst C-USA schools.
The football team has never been below the 925 threshold. Overall, UCF has never had a team penalized for low APR standings. The APR is a matter taken extremely seriously by the NCAA as teams that score below a multi-year 925 and have a student leave school academically ineligible can lose up to 10 percent of their scholarships.
The APR provides a real-time "snapshot" of a team's academic success each semester by looking at current academic progress of every student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention, and graduation as factors in the rate calculation and provides a much clearer picture of the current academic culture in each sport.
The APR is the fulcrum upon which the entire academic-reform structure rests. Developed as a more real-time assessment of teams' academic performance than the six-year graduation-rate calculation provides, the APR awards two points each term to student-athletes who meet academic-eligibility standards and who remain with the institution. A team's APR is the total points earned by the team at a given time divided by the total points possible.
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2011 UCF Football season ticket packages can be purchased online at UCFAthletics.com or by calling the UCF Athletics Ticket Office at (407) 823-1000. Should UCF host the C-USA Championship Game for the fourth time in seven years, it would be played on Saturday, Dec. 3 and season ticket holders will receive the first shot at the best seats.
45,000 UKNIGHT ON SEPT. 3rd!
• 2010 AutoZone Liberty Bowl champions
• Top 20 ranking and a program-best 11 wins in 2010
• Two-time Conference USA champions (2007 & 2010)
• Three-time Conference USA East Division champions (2005, 2007 & 2010)
• Four bowl appearances since 2005
• Led by three-time C-USA Coach of the Year George O'Leary
• Over a dozen UCF Knights appeared on NFL rosters in 2010