Athletes surpass average

Following a successful year for Boston College athletics, recent rankings released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) show that BC's student-athletes have been excelling both on and off the field. BC student-athletes had an average graduation success rate of 96 percent, a number far surpassing the national average, and 18 of BC's teams achieved a perfect rate. The football team had the highest graduation success rate in the Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC) and the fourth-highest nationally among Division I schools.

According to the latest NCAA statistics, these figures mirror a national trend that demonstrates that college athletes are earning their degrees at higher numbers than ever before. For BC student-athletes, however, excellence both on and off the field is nothing new.

"Every year, we're usually in the top five and have been for the past decade," said University Spokesman Jack Dunn. "The NCAA ranking is a testament to the appropriate balance between academics and athletics that has distinguished Boston College among the nation's best universities for the past several decades. Special credit goes to Father Leahy and Gene DeFilippo for establishing a program that is the standard-bearer among NCAA Division I sports programs."

Christopher Cameron, associate athletics director for media relations, said that rankings such as these are achieved through a process that begins with recruitment and continues through a student-athlete's entire career at BC. "From the time they are recruited to come to Boston College, they are told from the beginning that they are expected to attend to their academics first."

Cameron said that BC's high academic expectations are often an incentive during the recruitment process for some prospective student-athletes' parents. "The recruiting process always includes meeting parents, and I think it's a very appealing thing for parents. … They begin to see that we have about 750 student-athletes, but that it is a family atmosphere," Cameron said. "It seems like a very close community."

Cameron said that rigor of BC academics can discourage some. Sometimes these students prefer other schools that do not have such high academic standards for their student-athletes. "The academic standards at Boston College are very high, and for that reason, this place is not for everyone," Cameron said. "We try to be the best BC we can be, and that involves recruiting athletes of high character."

"At Boston College, student-athletes are held to the same standards as BC students, and they have the support network in place through programs such as Learning Resources that help ensure their success in the classroom," Dunn said. "These programs are considered model programs throughout the nation and contribute to BC's first-place ranking in this poll."

The Office for Learning Resources provides the resources and counseling student-athletes need to manage their time off the playing field. "It's a credit to them because when they become student-athletes, they really have to juggle their time commitments … and keep the focus on being a student as well."

Learning Resources provides a place for students-athletes to focus on their academics outside the classroom. Varsity teams are given counselors who travel with the team and help keep students on track. Cameron said, "There are counselors available to assist with registration for class, there's a computer lab available … mainly it's guidance and support that students receive to focus on their academics."

Cameron said of BC's high rankings this year, "It's a great sense of pride and accomplishment for our athletics program, and it's a tradition that we try to build upon every year."

Cameron said that the high standards BC uses in the recruitment process aid in keeping graduation rates high. "Obviously BC is a tough academic institution to start with, and obviously you have to be an outstanding student to be admitted." Cameron said that the athletics department bolsters this commitment to academic excellence throughout a student's time on a BC team.

In recruitment, members of the athletics department look for student-athletes who wish to pursue a complete education, to leave college with a degree, and who are interested in pursuing an NCAA sport at the highest level. "These are the kinds of individuals we go out to recruit," Cameron said. "That requires a lot of hard work."

NCAA President Myles Brand told reporters that, though current statistics are promising, there is still work to be done at many colleges and universities. "We are continuing to make progress toward the goal I established of an 80 percent graduation success rate. While there is still room for growth in some sports, we have seen improvements," Brand said.