Bulldogs get good news and better news with release of multi-year APR scores

Fresno State basketball had its Academic Progress Rate score land right on the number required to be eligible for postseason play, 930.

For the Bulldogs and coach Justin Hutson, who inherited a low 857 score from 2015-16 and has been walking an academic tightrope the past two years, that is the good news.

The better news is that low score now falls out of the Bulldogs’ four-year score, and they have graduated all seven seniors the past two seasons with Deshon Taylor, Braxton Huggins, Sam Bittner, Noah Blackwell, New Williams, Nate Grimes and Lazaro Rojas all earning degrees.

“I want to thank David Hall and Meredith Jenkins for what we’ve done with (academic advisors) Holly Eisbernd and Ashley Macias and our staff, and then just the commitment of our guys academically,” Hutson said.

“Yeoman’s work. It’s great to be here for two years and we’ve had seven guys graduate. It’s awesome, and it has really dug us out of a hole.”

Hall is the senior associate athletics director for compliance and student-athlete services and Jenkins the deputy director of athletics, who along with athletics director Terry Tumey have revamped and stabilized academic support in the department.

To be eligible for postseason play a program must have a multi-year APR score of 930 or better, which has been in doubt for Fresno State basketball with that 857 score in the equation.

The Bulldogs were at 942 in 2016-17 and 932 in 2017-18. Going forward, the single-year scores in play next year will be a 959, 941 and a 962 with their score from the past academic year.

Across the country, there are 15 programs across the country that will be ineligible for postseason play in 2020-21 due to a low APR score – a 930 score predicts, on average, a 50% graduation rate.

At Fresno State, women’s tennis posted a perfect 1,000 multi-year APR score and women’s lacrosse (998), men’s tennis (992) and women’s golf (990) were in the 990s, and women’s swimming and diving (988), women’s soccer (987), women’s basketball (983) and baseball (981) not far behind.

Men’s golf, men’s tennis, women’s basketball, women’s golf, women’s lacrosse and women’s tennis each posted 1,000 scores for 2018-19.