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Brand warned the underachievers Tuesday they could get hit with the NCAA's harshest sanctions. Nearly 150 teams face potential scholarship losses, and another 26 are on the brink of a post-season ban because of poor academics.
"Academic reform is here to stay, and those penalties resemble what we give for major infractions. So these are serious penalties, and there are a number of teams that received those," Brand said after releasing this year's Academic Progress Report. "Yes, there are individual institutions who have seen a steady decline (academically) over the last four years, and for them, the situation is dire."
Brand said he was mostly pleased with what he saw in the report.
Overall scores improved by four points since the NCAA began collecting data in 2003. Scores are also up in 26 of 29 sports over the last four years, and fewer teams were penalized than NCAA officials expected last year. One reason was the substantial academic improvement made by baseball and football players. Those sports increased their average scores by 12 and 11 points since 2003, respectively, which equate to graduation rates in the mid 60s.
More than 700 of the 6,272 Division I teams fell short of the mandated cut score of 925, and 218 were assessed punishments ranging from warning letters to reductions in practice times. Some were granted waivers while others showed enough improvement to avoid penalties.
But the 26 teams that have scored lower than 900 in two consecutive years must improve. A third consecutive score below 900 will keep them out of NCAA tournaments, and a fourth straight year could lead to having Division I status revoked.
Schools already facing possible post-season bans include football teams at San Jose State, Southern and Temple, and men's basketball teams at New Mexico State, Centenary and East Carolina.
Money is becoming a factor. According to the report, 180 teams cited low resources as the reason for poor scores while 253 teams said they were hurt by the departures of ineligible players. Teams can cite more than one reason for low scores.
Brand acknowledged there is a correlation between money and APR scores, although he called on athletic directors and university presidents to set better priorities.
"It's not as much about how many resources you have, as it is about where you put it," he said. "If you have a problem, you should put it more toward academic development and not as much toward suites or new facilities, for instance."
The numbers show large Division I schools, such as those in the Bowl Championship Series conferences, performed relatively well.
Eighteen BCS teams were penalized, eight in men's and women's basketball and two in football. Tennessee and West Virginia, with three teams each on the list, were the only BCS schools with more than one team sanctioned.
While retention rates have risen steadily, Brand remains concerned about men's basketball. That sport had an overall score of 906.2 for retaining players.
The report shows that women continue to outperform men, with a four-year average of 969 compared to 951. Also, historically black colleges and universities, which last year had a disparate percentage of low scores, fell more in line with national averages.
On the edge
The list of schools and teams that have posted two consecutive scores of less than 900 on the NCAA's academic progress report. A third consecutive score under 900 next year would ban the teams from post-season competition.
California State-Fresno -- men's basketball
California State-Sacramento -- football
Centenary -- baseball, men's basketball
East Carolina -- men's basketball
Florida International -- baseball
Hampton -- men's basketball
Indiana State -- men's tennis
Jacksonville State -- football
Louisiana-Lafayette -- men's basketball
Montana State-Bozeman -- football
Morgan State -- women's volleyball
Murray State -- football
New Mexico State -- men's basketball
New Orleans -- baseball
Oral Roberts -- baseball
San Jose State -- football, men's cross country, men's soccer
Southern -- football
Temple -- football
Tennessee-Chattanooga -- football, wrestling
Texas-Arlington -- baseball
Texas Southern -- men's tennis
Weber State -- football
