Officials say changes will eventually boost percentage
The GSR — a lagging indicator that reflects the percentage of athletes who graduate within six years of their arrival on campus — now stands at 73 percent, itself the second lowest in the SEC, down from 78 percent five years ago. Ole Miss is lower at 72 percent.
The only institution to show a larger drop was the University of Florida, which fell 6.7 percent to its current level at 83 percent; only four schools saw decreases in their graduation rates between the 2000 and 2004 classes. Leading the conference is the University of Georgia, which improved by 21.5 percent.
Glada Horvat, Georgia's assistant athletic director for academics and eligibility, wasn't sure what drove that increase but suggested that changes earlier in the decade may have helped improve academic performance.
"We've done a lot of enhancements in our academic support unit," Horvat said. "We're putting a lot of emphasis on having mentors for first-year students and a more aggressive study hall; it's more interactive."
Those changes, however, she said, followed the hiring of Ted White as director of academic services in the fall of 2006, so "that hasn't been reflected yet in graduation rates."
UGA also instituted a policy in 2007 that punished athletes with $10 fines and suspension for skipping classes. The effects of that policy on Georgia's GSR are not yet known, but the Associated Press reported in October of that year the policy was showing an immediate impact.
The number of missed classes and academic meetings fell about 90 percent in less than a year; student-athletes also earned 24 percent more credit hours in the spring of 2007 than in 2006, according to the AP.
The graduation rate doesn't immediately absorb such changes, though, which is one reason Raymond Harrison, USC's associate athletics director for academics and student support, thinks USC's rate hasn't risen.
Athletes' average GPA and Academic Progress Rate, both more real-time academic metrics, have increased steadily over the last few years, and the Department of Athletics has seen the hiring of Athletic Director Eric Hyman, football coach Steve Spurrier and men's basketball coach Darrin Horn since 2005.
Horn, said Harrison, has led his team to a 100 percent graduation rate during his tenure, and the football team has seen improvement as well.
"They had the highest GPA they've ever had in the fall [last year]," Harrison noted. "They followed this spring with the second-highest GPA they've ever had."
That's significant because the football team's GSR fell 19.1 percent to 55 percent between the 2000 and 2004 entering classes — the largest drop of any team in the SEC.
More broadly, though, the athletics department has seen a change in culture since Hyman began as athletic director, Harrison said.
"A lot of credit comes from our athletic director for coming in and having a vision and making sure that the culture, in terms of academic success, was a priority," Harrison said. "We're only as good as the support we receive from the coaches, and the coaches have really bought in to the principles and things that are very important to [Hyman]."
Hyman now meets before each semester with "at risk" students to discuss academic expectations, and the department has hired new learning specialists and has updated tutoring, attendance and study hall programs "so that we are doing a better job of monitoring our student-athletes and being proactive instead of reactive."