INDIANAPOLIS—Newly released data on the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) showed Villanova continuing to rank among the elite Division I institutions for the academic achievement of its 24 varsity sport programs. Villanova Athletics had an overall APR of 996 in the data released on Tuesday afternoon, while 12 of its varsity sport programs earned a perfect 1000 multi-year APR score. This is the sixth straight year in which data has been collected that the Wildcats have had 10 or more teams earn a perfect score.
The 12 sport programs to achieve a perfect 1000 score in Tuesday's announcement are men's basketball; women's cross country; golf; men's lacrosse; rowing; women's soccer; softball; men's swimming & diving; men's tennis; women's tennis; women's track & field; and women's water polo. This is the 10th straight year that the women's tennis team has posted a multi-year score of 1000, while the golf and water polo programs have each achieved a 1000 score for nine consecutive years. The golf team has tallied the highest GPA among Villanova varsity sports in each of the past three semesters.
Villanova's elite performance in the APR program stands out when compared to other BIG EAST programs and Division I schools nationwide. The Wildcats led all BIG EAST schools with the number of teams earning a 1000 multi-year score and was one of just seven schools nationwide to have 12 or more teams with a 1000 score.
This is the 17th year that the Academic Progress Rate (APR) data has been collected for Division I schools. The metric provides a real-time measure of a sport program's academic performance based on points earned each semester by student-athletes for their academic standing and retention. A mark of 1000 represents a perfect score. Tuesday's data reveal includes the most recent cohort of student-athletes who entered college from 2018-19 through 2021-22.
During the four-year span that the most recent cohort includes, the 12 teams who achieved a 1000 APR score combined to win 12 conference championships. That includes nine BIG EAST Championship titles won by men's basketball, softball and women's track & field, while the men's basketball program also won three regular season conference crowns and advanced to the 2022 Final Four.
The softball team won the first two BIG EAST titles in program history in 2021 and 2022 along the way to reaching an NCAA regional each year, while the women's cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field program scored at the NCAA Championships three times in each season during the four-year stretch. That includes the team posting a top-20 finish during the 2022 outdoor season.
The men's basketball and men's lacrosse teams were each the only BIG EAST schools to have a 1000 multi-year score in their sport. Villanova stood out particularly well in the high-profile sports of men's basketball, women's basketball and football. There were only six men's basketball teams who played in the NCAA Tournament in 2022 that earned a 1000 APR score over the past four years. The women's basketball team had a multi-year score of 995 which is tied for the third-highest in the BIG EAST and ranks in the 70-80th percentile nationally. The football team was tied for third among CAA Football programs and its 974 multi-year score was 12 points above the national average for FCS teams.
Villanova Athletics continues to achieve across-the-board academic success. In November 2022 the department set a new program record with a 99 percent NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and ranked among the top five Division I programs in the country who had an overall score of 99 percent or higher. During the Fall 2022 semester all 24 varsity sports programs compiled a team GPA above a 3.1. The overall GPA for more than 550 student-athletes during the Fall semester was a lofty 3.410, marking the 39th straight grading period that Villanova Athletics has had a department GPA above a 3.0. It is also the 16th consecutive semester that the student-athlete GPA has been higher than a 3.2.
