With the change in football coaching staffs from Riley to Andersen, there is inevitably the question of the effect of the new staff on academics.  The main metric used by the NCAA to evaluate academics is the academic progress rate (APR).  This assessment tool considers eligibility and retention of student-athletes on a team-wide basis in the calculation of the APR.

Trends in football APR at Oregon State, Wisconsin, Utah State, and the Pac-12 average APR.

The NCAA has new rules that give programs incentives to improve their APR.  Starting in this academic year, teams must have a four-year average APR of 930 or greater to participate in championships.  With that benchmark in mind, how is OSU progressing toward meeting this goal and what is Coach Andersen’s record with this metric at previous schools?

NCAA records show that OSU’s football APR has risen and fallen over the past 7 years.  The lowest APR in recent history was 930 in the academic year ending in 2008 and all years have been greater than the benchmark since that year.  There was a decline in APR since 2010 at OSU with the levels dropping below the Pac-12 average but still above the minimum 930 level.

Andersen’s previous schools (Utah State and Wisconsin) have shown increases in APR in the years that he served as head coach at the institutions.  Utah State did have a small one-year decline in APR while he was no longer coach at the school.  Both schools scored highly in the APR during Andersen’s tenure as head coach.

A renewed emphasis on academics is needed to reverse the downward trend in APR at OSU.  Coach Andersen’s past record with this metric suggests that a reversal in this trend will be evident in the future.