The American Football Coaches Association released their annual report and awards for academic achievement and once again, the ACC fared better than any other conference. SMU was awarded the top award this year, but nine ACC schools were honored, more than any other two conferences combined.
In the previous 26 years of the award, Duke has won or shared the title 12 (!!) times. Boston College won four times (all before they were in the ACC), Virginia twice and Wake Forest once. Additionally, Virginia has been given honorable mention 19 times.
I’ve talked a bit before about how I don’t think graduation rates are a perfect measure of academic success (more here). Schools have different requirements and we all know that some schools push players along and fudge grades to keep guys eligible, but it’s probably the best, most accessible number we have. The end goal of college is not really a degree – it’s education. The degree is nice and it’s measurable, but it doesn’t mean you learned anything (just ask Dexter Manley … verbally). That said, a degree is better than nothing and you can be fairly certain that Duke isn’t cheating to get their numbers up there (or they really suck at cheating).
So, kudos to all schools who take the academic progress of their players seriously and particular props to the ACC’s best – Clemson, FSU, Maryland, UNC, UVA, Virginia Tech and Wake.
p.s. As the ACC BasketBlog pointed out – who would have guessed that the SEC’s lone school was NOT Vanderbilt, but Auburn?