Bowling Green State University Athletics
Football Team Earns Academic Honor
June 08, 2000 | Football
June 8, 2000
WACO, Texas - The Bowling Green football team has been honored for its collective efforts in the classroom. The Falcons have earned honorable mention status in the 2000 American Football Coaches Association's Academic Achievement Award survey.
Syracuse University won the award, presented annually by the Touchdown Club of Memphis. SU recorded a 100 percent graduation rate for members of its football squad when all members of the freshman class of 1994-95 earned a degree.
BGSU and twenty-five other NCAA Division I-A members received honorable mention status for having graduation rates of 70 percent or better. The other institutions are Ball State, Baylor, Boston College, Central Michigan, Clemson, Duke, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Marshall, Miami (Fla.), Mississippi State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Purdue, Rice, South Carolina, Southern California, Southern Methodist, Tulane, Tulsa, Virginia, Wake Forest and Wisconsin.
The overall graduation rate of the 97 institutions participating in the survey was 57 percent, up from 56 percent a year ago. The median graduation rate was 58 percent, the same as the previous two years. The survey involved the freshman class from the academic year of 1994-95 who received athletically-related financial aid as a member of the institution's football squad. Of those student-athletes who completed four years of eligibility, 71.8 percent have graduated and another 8.3 percent are currently enrolled and working toward a degree.
Head coach Gary Blackney and the Falcons will begin the 2000 season with a Sept. 2 game at Michigan. The team's home opener will be the following Saturday, Sept. 9, against Pittsburgh. That contest is set for a 4:00 p.m. start at Perry Stadium.
