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University of New Mexico athletes work to improve low graduation rates
Judging the MWC
Here's a look at UNM's graduation success rate, a measure of its ability to graduate athletes within six years of enrolling at the school. The numbers, which were released by the NCAA this week, include athletes entering school from 1997-2000:
Sport, GSR, National Avg., GSR
Baseball, 56, 66
Men's basketball, 23, 61
Men's track/cross country, 63, 74
Football, 51, 67
Men's golf, 60, 79
Men's gymnastics, 50, 88
Men's skiing, 100, 73
Men's soccer, 70, 77
Men's swimming, 63, 82
Men's tennis, 83, 82
Wrestling, 67, 70
Women's basketball, 79, 81
Track/cross country, 71, 83
Women's golf, 100, 87
Women's skiing, 100, 95
Women's soccer, 90, 89
Softball, 73, 85
Women's swimming, 82, 91
Women's tennis, 100, 88
Volleyball, 63, 88
UNM GSR average: 64 percent
National GSR average: 77 percent
Judging the MWC
Here's a look at how the Lobos' graduation success rate compared to the rest of the Mountain West Conference and the Aggies in the most popular but troubled sports:
SCHOOL, BASEBALL, MEN'S BBALL, FOOTBALL
Air Force, 100, 91, 92
BYU, 72, 67, 53
CSU, N/A, 67, 66
LOBOS, 56, 23, 51
SDSU, 48, 43, 70
TCU, 60, 35, 69
UNLV, 47, 15, 50
Utah, 73, 55, 55
Wyoming, N/A, 67, 63
NMSU, 42, 50, 58
Nat'l Avg., 66, 61, 67
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University of New Mexico officials insist it isn't as bleak as it looks.
The Lobos' latest graduation rates released by the NCAA lag behind the national average and are among the worst in the Mountain West Conference.
UNLV is the only Mountain West school with worse ratings in the highest-profile and most troubled sports - men's basketball and football.
But the Lobos' graduation success rate, a figure used to measure how many athletes graduate six years after enrolling at UNM, is moving up. The latest NCAA figures are based on athletes who started at UNM between 1997 and 2000.
The school posted significant gains in every sport, and the overall graduation rate average improved from 58 percent last year to 64 percent this year.
The national average graduation rate is 77 percent.
"I'm excited the numbers have shown considerable improvement from the previous year, but I don't think you're ever really satisfied with your numbers," said UNM Athletics Director Paul Krebs, who is in his second year and had little impact on the athletes evaluated.
Mens's basketball continued to post the worst rating among UNM programs, with a 23 percent graduation rating. The figure reflects the rocky end of the Fran Fraschilla era and will likely remain a problem as the NCAA tracks Ritchie McKay's troubled tenure leading the program.
UNM's average, however, is an improvement over the Lobos' rating last year - 7 percent and worst in the nation.
This year, UNLV ranks lower at 15 percent and Maryland ranks worst nationally at 0 percent.
"Coach (Steve) Alford is well aware of those numbers and is focused on improving," Krebs said. "Those numbers are partially due to some different recruiting practices and coaching changes, but that's no excuse. It's embarrassing and unacceptable."
UNM coach Rocky Long doesn't like his 51 percent graduation rate and is working to change it.
At the same time, he argues the number isn't a fair snapshot of his program's academic success.
"Those numbers show how well you are getting your recruiting class from that time period to graduate within six years, but it doesn't really take into account kids quitting in the middle of the semester to help their family, because they're homesick or because they just don't want to play football with us anymore," said Long, who is in his 10th season at UNM.
He calculates his own rate and argues during the past nine years, he has an 85 percent graduation rate among scholarship athletes who have stuck with his program and earned degrees within six years.
"We do really well with the core guys in our program," he said. "Some people come and go for all kinds of reasons, and I don't think it's fair to be judged by how successful they are in school."
Long said the academic progress rate was established to try to correct flaws in the graduation progress rate. It has become the NCAA's main standard to evaluate academic success.
While he also sees flaws with the APR, Long said it should have a major impact on graduation rate numbers in the next one to three years.
"When they really explained the rules to us, we did everything we could to live up their standards," he said. "The past three years we have exceeded their minimum 925 APR, and it should show up in graduation rate soon."
Krebs said the APR should help the graduation rates for all UNM sports.
"I think what the APR has done is raise visibility, attention and accountability of all schools," he said. "It forces us to pay closer attention to something that always has been our responsibility. We need to help more athletes graduate."
