Jason Corriher
Marshall Athletics

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall University had seven athletic programs earn a perfect single-year (2018-19) APR (Academic Progress Rates) score, the NCAA announced Tuesday afternoon.
Also, eight programs either improved or equaled their multi-year APR score from last year, including Marshall softball, which set a program record for its best mark (997) since APR became a metric for Division I academic performance in 2003.
The Thundering Herd programs with a perfect single-year APR of 1,000 were women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, softball, swimming and diving, tennis and volleyball.
Swimming and diving and volleyball recorded a perfect single-year figure for the fifth consecutive year.
Nine programs — men’s and women’s golf, women’s basketball, women’s cross country, softball, women’s soccer, swimming and diving, track and field and volleyball — have a multi-year APR average equal to or higher than the national average of 983, which ties the highest mark ever recorded by the NCAA. The multi-year scores cover the academic years 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
“The addition of the Buck Harless Student-Athlete Academic Center continues to benefit our young people and these numbers bear that out,” said Mike Hamrick, the Thundering Herd’s director of athletics.
“Their performance, along with the hard work put in by our academic support unit and coaching staffs, underscore why success in the classroom is one of the most important priorities at Marshall.”
According to the APR, Marshall had seven athletic programs finish in the top five within their sport in Conference USA: softball, women’s basketball, women’s golf, women’s soccer, swimming and diving, track and field and volleyball.
The NCAA Division I academic progress rates system was implemented in 2003 as part of “an ambitious academic reform effort,” according to the NCAA’s website. The APR holds institutions accountable for academic progress of student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete for each academic term.