RICHMOND, Va. – The only two Villanova sports that competed in the CAA for the 2025-26 academic year were named winners of the league's Team Academic Excellence Awards. The conference unveiled the victors on Tuesday afternoon from the 22 sports sponsored by the CAA, and Villanova was represented by both football and rowing for the sixth time in the decade that the award has been presented.
The Team Academic Excellence Award recognizes the institution with the highest collective grade point average in all 22 sports sponsored by the CAA. The team GPA is a calculation of the grade point average of each student-athlete who appeared on an institution's roster throughout the final day of their respective championship seasons during the 2025-26 academic year. Despite only competing in the CAA in football and rowing, Villanova is one of five conference schools to have multiple teams earn an award this year.
VU rowing wins its second straight and sixth overall Team Academic Excellence Award, capping off a well-decorated year for the program. Jalyn Colon and Maggie Coyne earned spots on the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area list, Coyne and Sarah Robillard picked up CSC Academic All-District and 10 Wildcats were named CRCA Scholar-Athletes.
On the water, the 'Cats finished fourth at the CAA Rowing Championships with bronze-medal showings from the 3V8 and 2V8 while two Villanovans (Colon and Coyne) were selected as All-CAA. The varsity 8 landed a pair of CAA Boat of the Week laurels throughout the season, bringing the program to four top boat honors since 2022.
It's football's fourth straight year as the CAA's Team Academic Excellence Award winner and the sixth time overall for the 'Cats. It was a highly decorated season for Villanova both on the field and in the classroom with VU reaching the national semifinals and garnering 15 All-America and 13 all-conference accolades.
Individually, a quartet of Wildcats landed on the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area squad in Temi Ajirotutu, Luke Colella, Shane Hartzell and Pat McQuaide. Ajirotutu and Hartzell were also named Academic All-Stars by the FCS Athletic Directors Association, and 16 'Cats were chosen for the NFF Hampshire Honor Society.
More academic honors from the CAA are still to come, as the Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll for the Spring 2026 semester has yet to be announced.
