On the same day Marcus Freeman went viral for a comment suggesting Ohio State doesn’t take academics as seriously as Notre Dame, data released by the NCAA provided evidence to the contrary.
The NCAA released updated Academic Progress Rate scores for every Division I team on Tuesday, and 16 Ohio State sports teams – including the football team – posted perfect scores for the 2020-21 academic year.
Ohio State’s baseball, women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s fencing, men’s and women’s golf, men’s gymnastics, men’s soccer, wrestling, women’s ice hockey, women’s swimming, women’s track and field, women’s volleyball and rifle teams also achieved perfect scores of 1,000 for 2020-21. Across the athletic department as a whole, Ohio State posted a single-year APR of 992, the second-highest in school history behind only its score of 995 in 2019-20.
As a result of its perfect score in 2020-21, the most recent year for which APR data has been finalized, Ohio State football now has a multi-year APR of 991, the highest in program history. Previously, Ohio State’s best multi-year APR was 988 in 2010-11. Ohio State’s current multi-year APR ranks in the top 10 percent of all Division I football programs.
By comparison, Notre Dame football’s current multi-year APR – also the highest in program history – is 984. Notre Dame’s single-year APR for 2020-21 was 982.
Across the athletic department, all 26 of Ohio State’s NCAA sports teams have an APR of at least 975, with 19 of them at 990 or better. The men’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, softball, women’s swimming and wrestling teams all have perfect multi-year APRs of 1,000.
“The current data shows not only that academics continued to be a priority under pandemic conditions for students, coaches and support staff, but also that a focus on academic success has been a core value over time at Ohio State,” Ohio State faculty athletics representative John Davidson said in a news release.
