University of Connecticut Athletics
Connecticut Football Honored By AFCA For Graduation Rate
5/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
STORRS, Conn. (May 17, 2007) -- For the third time in five years, the University of Connecticut’s football program has been recognized by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) for its high graduation rate. UConn was one of 32 Division I-A programs honored for graduating at least 70-percent of its football student-athletes and one of four schools in the BIG EAST Conference to be so recognized. With a full 50-percent of its schools represented (4-of-8), the BIG EAST had the highest percentage of its schools to be recognized of any Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) league.
The Huskies were also especially recognized in 2003 after graduating over 90-percent of its student-athletes and in 2005 for being over 70-percent. UConn was the only public institution to have done so in the 2003 survey and, in 2005, it was one of just eight to be recognized and also win a bowl game that year.
“We are happy to be recognized by the AFCA for our graduation rates once again, UConn head coach Randy Edsall says. “This is a great credit to our players and to Ellen Rennie and her staff at CPIA (Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletes) which works so diligently to help the student-athletes here at the University of Connecticut. They do a lot of behind-the-scenes hard work and it is wonderful that they have been able to get so much public praise this year for their fine work between this honor, the CoSIDA Academic All-District honors that Rhema Fuller and Chris Pavasaris earned, along with having our first ever National Football Foundation National Scholar Athlete Award recipient in Rhema. It has been a banner year for our CPIA staff.
The overall Academic Achievement Award was shared between Northwestern and Notre Dame, both of which graduated 95% of its football seniors. The survey focused on scholarship football players who initially entered college during the 2001-2002 academic year.
