Postseason bans for UAPB, UCA

Arkansas-Pine Bluff Coach Monte Coleman’s team will have practice times trimmed from 20 hours a week to 16 hours a week because of low Academic Progress Rate scores.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff Coach Monte Coleman’s team will have practice times trimmed from 20 hours a week to 16 hours a week because of low Academic Progress Rate scores.

A total of 36 NCAA Division I athletic teams will face postseason bans during the 2014-2015 academic year because of low NCAA Academic Progress Rate scores.

Two of them are from the state of Arkansas.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff's football team and Central Arkansas' men's basketball team will be ineligible for the postseason next season following the NCAA's annual release of its results Wednesday.

The NCAA uses the APR to track schools' graduation and retention rates over a four-year period. The NCAA's standard to avoid penalty increased this year to 930 (multi-year) and 940 (yearly) over the two most recent years. It had been 900 (multi-year) and 930 (yearly).

The UAPB football team's multi-year score -- which covers the 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years -- was 882, while its 2012-2013 score was 919. The UCA men's basketball team's multi-year score was 901 while its yearly score was 848.

Both teams will have practice time limited from 20 hours to 16 hours as part of the NCAA's penalties.

Academic requirements for NCAA athletes will become even more stricter over the next couple of years. As of Aug. 1, 2016, the NCAA's minimum grade-point requirement for competition will increase from 2.0 to 2.3. Only athletes who post a GPA between 2.0 and 2.3 will be eligible to receive athletic financial aid and be eligible to practice.

UCA men's basketball Coach Russ Pennell said Wednesday's news is a great challenge for players, coaches and academic personnel at the school.

"We have to get better on the court and off the court," said Pennell, who was hired in early March. "It's a black eye for the university. We have to do everything in our power to alleviate that. We have to hold everyone accountable."

UAPB's football team dealt with multiple eligibility issues last season en route to a 2-9 record, one year after winning the school's first outright Southwestern Athletic Conference title. Running backs Justin Billings and Aaron Lagrone and defensive back Ryan Shaw were declared academically ineligible, and certification concerns ended defensive ends Damien Lee and Demarcus Berry's seasons before they started.

UAPB is one of four SWAC schools that received a postseason ban in football, along with Alabama State, Mississippi Valley State and Prairie View A&M. The SWAC, which competes in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, doesn't participate in the FCS playoffs but has its own championship game.

Football Coach Monte Coleman and UAPB Athletic Director Lonza Hardy did not return phone calls Wednesday from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

UCA Athletic Director Brad Teague told the Democrat-Gazette last month that the men's basketball program would be hit with an APR penalty that would leave the Bears ineligible for the 2014-2015 postseason. UCA is one of three Southland Conference men's basketball teams that received a postseason ban Wednesday. Lamar and Houston Baptist were the others.

"We have to get better," Teague said Wednesday. "That's what we're doing. We have a new coach and a new system. He's signed a bunch of student-athletes who want to do their classwork and get better on the court."

UCA submitted a waiver to the NCAA in March in an attempt to avoid penalties, citing that it has had three different coaches in the past year (Corliss Williamson, Clarence Finley and Pennell). The waiver was denied last month.

The Bears finished 8-21 last season under Finley, who served as interim coach after Williamson left to take an assistant coaching position with the NBA's Sacramento Kings.

Three players were academically ineligible for at least one semester. Guards LaQuentin Miles and Oliver Wells and forward Tirrell Brown missed a semester because of academic ineligibility. Miles exhausted his eligibility last season, and Brown and Wells were two of 11 players Pennell chose not to retain when he became the new coach.

UCA signed 11 players during the recent national signing period and kept only sophomore forward Ethan Lee from last year's team.

"It boils down to who are we recruiting to our institution, and are they wanting to get their degree," Teague said. "There's nothing else that needs to be changed. We have to bring in student-athletes that want to be students, too."

The UAPB men's basketball team will be eligible for the 2014-2015 postseason after receiving APR penalties the past two seasons. UAPB posted scores of 904 (multi-year) and 978 (2012-13) in the most recent report.

Coach George Ivory's basketball team played in the SWAC Tournament in March after the conference granted waivers to UAPB, Grambling State, Mississippi Valley State and Southern University of Baton Rouge. The Golden Lions finished 13-18 overall and 11-7 in conference play last season, losing to Alabama State in the first round of the tournament.

Next season will mark the first time in three years the basketball team will be eligible for the postseason.

"It's a big relief," Ivory said. "We were just happy to be out of the penalty."

Sports on 05/15/2014

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