We held much of this back to keep the focus on the #RedLight the past few days (make sure to spend some time perusing the recent blog entries to catch up), but…
The Flagship has seen its APR scores suffer now that it can no longer use The Carolina Way to actively promote fake majors (N&O):
In the latest statistics from the NCAA, the men’s basketball team, at one point the best in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a near perfect score, is in eighth place. The football team never ranked higher than seventh, but it had managed to stay out of the ACC’s cellar until last year, when it had a score so low it is just a few points away from losing postseason eligibility.
Both teams scored their all-time lows on a measure the NCAA launched in 2003 –- the Academic Progress Rate -– to try to ensure that athletes are getting a meaningful education. The rate is built upon how many athletes on sports scholarships stay in school and remain academically eligible to play. It represents the four most recent years of academic performance and retention.
The new scores for UNC’s revenue-producing teams are not in line with UNC’s profile. It is one of the nation’s top public universities, and officials there have long boasted that its athletes succeed on the field and in the classroom.
UNC Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham and other officials declined to be interviewed.
Larry Farmer left to become an assistant at Western Michigan (GoPack.com).
State basketball has a home-and-home agreement with Tennessee (NBCSports.com). State will travel to Knoxville this season and Tennessee will come to Raleigh in 2014-15.
You probably don’t care didn’t notice (N&O), but today:
In a move that was two years in the making, the ACC officially welcomed Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame to the conference.
That was old news. Perhaps most newsworthy from the two-day event was the fact that it was held in New York City, and not Greensboro, the traditional home of the conference.
“We wanted to showcase the Atlantic Coast Conference in New York City and to show that this is a very important part of our new footprint,†ACC commissioner John Swofford said.
The ACC welcoming party lasted two days in New York City, with mascots from every school parading around different city landmarks (the Maryland terrapin was included on the fun-the school will spend one season in the new-look ACC before leaving for the Big 10 in 2014. Louisville, not present in New York, will join the ACC that year, too). The welcoming event concluded with representatives from the conference ringing the closing bell at the NASDAQ Monday.
On a related note, the ACC continues to focus on New York, New York, as it now has a 6-year agreement (2014-19) with the Pinstripe Bowl, played at Yankee Stadium (NBCSports.com).
