Oklahoma State APR numbers are out and they aren’t pretty

The NCAA released the most recent Academic Progress Rate (APR) figures yesterday. I thought it would be interesting to see how OSU is performing relative to other Big 12 schools. Here’s a summary of the data I found at the NCAA’s APR site. The teams are sorted by their average rank in the conference over the last five seasons.

The quick answer to the “how is OSU performing?” question: not very well. We are performing well below the Big 12 average of 947 (the NCAA football average is 949). OSU’s most recent APR figure is 926, the lowest for any Big 12 team in 2012.

According to the NCAA site, a team must have a multi-year APR of 900 or a 2-year average of 930 in order to qualify for post-season play in the upcoming football season. OSU clears the multi-year hurdle of 900 by a wide margin. So no worries, right?

Wrong. Beginning next season (2014), the minimum requirements for post-season play will be a multi-year average of 930 or a 2-year average of 940. OSU and Iowa State are the only Big 12 schools below the 930 multi-year threshold. OSU has been below that threshold two years in a row, and our APR rank within the conference has deteriorated each of the last four seasons (actually, that’s not quite true – you can’t get lower than 10 out of 10).

The APR system remains controversial, but a simple fact remains: OSU is underperforming its peers in the Big 12.