Sixteen Tar Heel Teams Exceed National Graduation Success Rates

CHAPEL HILL –– Sixteen University of North Carolina athletic programs exceeded the national average in the NCAA's Graduation Success Rates, according to figures the NCAA released today.

Graduation Success Rates measure graduation rates for student-athletes by team, taking into account student-athletes who are on scholarship their first year and who graduate from their respective university or leave the program via transfer to another university or professional opportunities while in good academic standing. This cohort of student-athletes entered college from 2008 to 2011.

The 16 UNC teams that exceeded the national average for their respective sports included women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's fencing, women's golf, gymnastics, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's tennis, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field and volleyball (rowing also equaled the national average).

Seven Tar Heel teams were No. 1 in the ACC in GSR – women's fencing, women's golf, gymnastics, women's lacrosse, women's swimming and diving, men's tennis and volleyball.

Carolina's overall Graduation Success Rate for the four-year cohort was 83 percent, which is also UNC's average four-year score in the last three years.

Men's and women's basketball teams showed the largest single-year GSR increases at 24 and 12 percent, respectively.

Seven Carolina teams scored 100 percent for the four-year period in their respective GSRs, including women's fencing, women's golf, gymnastics, women's lacrosse, women's swimming and diving, men's tennis and volleyball.

It was the 14th consecutive 100 percent finish for gymnastics, 13th straight for women's golf and 10th for swimming and diving.

"Congratulations to Derek Galvin (gymnastics head coach), Jan Mann (women's golf head coach) and Rich DeSelm (swimming and diving head coach) and the student-athletes in their respective programs for achieving perfect scores for at least 10 straight years," says Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham. "They are demonstrating consistent excellence in the classroom over a very long time.

"I was also pleased with the rates for both basketball teams. Overall, our numbers were fairly comparable to last year's, and our projections show that they will rise over the next several years."

The University's four-year Federal Graduation Rate, which penalizes a school when players leave early for various reasons including the opportunity to play professionally, remained steady at 68 percent. Carolina's single-year FGR went up from 67 to 70 percent.

Sixteen Tar Heel Teams Exceed National Graduation Success Rates

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