Cowboys Docked A Weekly Practice Day For Low APR Scores

Due to a below average Academic Progress Rating, Oklahoma State football will have one less day of practice per week in the 2014 season, according to multiple reports.

Wednesday, May 14th 2014, 2:37 pm

By: News 9


Due to a below average Academic Progress Rating, Oklahoma State football will have one less day of practice per week in the 2014 season, according to multiple reports.

The penalty stems from the Cowboys coming up just short of the NCAA's four-year standard of an APR of 930. OSU's four-year average came out to 929.41; a score of 929.50 would have passed.

APR is based on eligibility and retention with a point in each of those categories awarded to each scholarship athlete who meets the standards. For example, if there are 85 scholarship athletes and 80 remain in school (1 pt) and are eligible (1 pt), and the other 5 leave school early, then that school's score for that year is (160/170) x 1000 = 941.18. If this remains constant for four years but one more point is added [(641/680) x 1000] the score jumps to 942.65, a difference of 1.47 APR points.

Basically, Oklahoma State came so close that if junior receiver Josh Stewart came back for his senior season instead of declaring for the NFL Draft, the Cowboys wouldn't be penalized. Or if junior safety Lyndell Johnson doesn't get dismissed from the team or any other football player, just one over the four-year span, earns an extra APR point, then the Pokes aren't hit with the practice penalty.

"We are taking steps to ensure that our APR numbers improve moving forward," Athletic Director Mike Holder said. "We are accountable for what we do and ultimately, we are here to serve our student-athletes and do our best to keep them on track to be lifelong contributors to society."

The OSU football team posted scores of 916 in 2009-10, 915 in 2010-11, 953 in 2011-12 and 934 in 2012-13.

"We have shown significant improvement over the last two years and we were able to demonstrate that we've taken strategies to address the areas where we were losing points. That's why we received partial relief from the standard penalty." said Kevin Fite, OSU Director of Compliance.

When the APR is calculated next year, the 916 from 2009-10 – one of OSU's lowest scores in the current four-year cycle - will not be included.

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