Feb. 10, 2006
By PETE IORIZZO, Times Union Staff writer
First published: Friday, February 10, 2006
LOUDONVILLE -- Every day Siena men's lacrosse players receive an 8 1/2 -by-11 piece of paper with the afternoon's practice plans. Above the list of drills, strategies and objectives, the same sentence always appears, in all capital letters: "Go to all your classes."
"I figure if they see it enough times," coach Brian Brecht said, "maybe they'll actually do it."
Apparently, they already are.
Siena holds the fifth-best graduation rate among Division I schools, according to NCAA figures released last month. Ninety-seven percent of Siena athletes who came to the school between 1995 and 1998 graduated.
Siena tied with seven others schools for the No. 5 spot. The top four schools were Radford (100 percent), Navy (99), Notre Dame (98) and Valparaiso (98).
The University at Albany was not ranked, because it was not a Division I school during the time the information was collected.
"We're very happy," Siena director of athletics John D'Argenio said. "We recruit kids who want to do the work and have the ability to succeed."
This round of graduation rates was the first announced under the NCAA's new "Graduation Success Rate" (GSR) system.
Previously, the federal Department of Education calculated graduation rates, but college presidents griped about the formula. The chief complaint involved transfers. Under the federal system, if a student in good academic standing transferred, it hurt the graduation rate of his or her original school. The GSR does not penalize schools when academically eligible students transfer.
"When a student-athlete has success at an institution, we don't think it should count against that institution when he or she leaves," NCAA spokesman Kent Barrett said.
The GSR is part of the NCAA's two-pronged plan for measuring academic progress. The other part, called the Academic Progress Rating (APR), measures students' success each semester. Those numbers, due out later this month or in early March, can be used to assess penalties.
In other words, schools that fail to meet minimum standards will lose scholarships.
But that hardly seems a concern for Siena, which had 13 programs record graduation rates of 100 percent, including men's and women's basketball. Men's tennis (50 percent) was the only program at less than 84 percent.
Nationally, the GSR for all athletes is 76 percent. The best sport is women's lacrosse (94 percent) and among the worst are football (64 percent) and men's basketball (58 percent). Siena does not offer football.
Siena officials credited their success to careful monitoring of students' academics. The school employs a full-time athletic academic adviser who oversees study halls -- or times when students study in a quiet room with no cellphones or food -- and meets regularly with "at-risk" students, or students whose grade-point averages are below 2.5.
Each fall, all Siena incoming freshmen are required to meet with the adviser, Sue Yund, and attend study halls.
Siena also offers an athlete-to-athlete tutoring program -- called "Saints Supporting Saints" -- in which an athlete can request a tutor in any class. In some cases, the athlete is tutored by a teammate.
"We're like hawks," Yund said. "We're always monitoring their eligibility, and we're always looking to see that they're meeting specific guidelines."
Coaches said they step in the process, too, by reviewing students' academic credentials during the recruiting process.
"Some schools will dip more than others, mainly because they're bigger schools and you can hide a kid somewhere," said Brecht, the lacrosse coach. "There is nowhere to hide here. Class sizes are 16 to 17 kids, and everyone knows who the athletes are."
Brecht said he disciplines players by sending them to study hall.
"What am I going to do, make him run until he pukes?" he said. "I might as well make him a better student."
Siena men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery, in his first year, previously worked at UNC-Greensboro, a public school that offered skill-based majors such as exercise and sport science. At Siena, most majors are liberal arts-based, making reading and writing credentials imperative.
McCaffery also previously worked as an assistant coach at Notre Dame, where he said he learned the importance of recruiting for academic as well as athletic success.
"We need players to be eligible," McCaffery said. "Sometimes you can get them into school, but they have to be eligible. A lot of coaches just pressure and pressure and pressure to get them in, then they're not playing. I don't believe in that."
Said women's basketball coach Gina Castelli: "This is a liberal arts school, and there is a lot of reading, writing and public speaking. You don't have classes here that are easy. We don't offer any 'skill courses.' These are difficult classes, and professors are demanding."
Which is why D'Argenio said he'd like to offer even more academic support to athletes.
"I would like to see us provide more support services," he said, "in terms of people being mentors and having more support staff in addition to our academic advisor. The motto we like to use is, 'One student at a time.' To do that, you have to have the staff. I wish we could do that a little better."
