Oregon athletes scoring in classroom.

Byline: BOB CLARK The Register-Guard

Beyond final scores in competitions, Oregon was offered another number to cheer with the latest NCAA survey of graduation rates showing 79 percent of the UO athletes overall and 88 percent of Duck football players received their degrees within six years of enrolling in the fall of 1995.

Both figures were the highest ever recorded for the Ducks in the NCAA survey, now in its 13th year. These numbers were based on freshmen enrolling for the 1995-96 academic year, and completing their degree requirements by the end of the spring term or semester in 2001, the length mandated by the NCAA for survey purposes.

`I was extremely pleased to hear the news regarding Oregon's outstanding graduation rates for student-athletes,' said Bill Moos, the UO director of athletics. `It is a tribute to the caliber of young people that we have in our program and to our coaches and support staff who do a tremendous job of ensuring that our primary goal of educating and graduating our student-athletes is carried out.'

Oregon's percentage of overall athletes graduating in this six-year period was second in the Pac-10 to Stanford, which had a rate of 90 percent. Oregon's overall graduation rate for students in this six-year period was 59 percent, compared to Stanford's rate of 93 percent for all of its students.

The Ducks did lead the Pac-10 for football players with their graduation rate of 88 percent - including 86 percent of Oregon's minority players - with Stanford next at 81 percent overall. Oregon State had the Pac-10's lowest graduation rate for football players in this survey, at 25 percent, though that was a class which ended up having three different head coaches, and OSU's four-year average for football players is 35 percent.

The class of Oregon football players in this NCAA survey would have been the true freshmen in Mike Bellotti's first season as head coach, though most of them were recruited while Rich Brooks was still head coach, in the winter following Oregon's Rose Bowl appearance.

Of the teams currently ranked in The Associated Press Top 25, Oregon and Penn State tied for the best graduation rate at 88 percent. The lowest graduation rates for the current group of Top 25 teams was Oklahoma at 6 percent, with Tennessee next lowest at 8 percent. Nationally, 50 percent of football players graduated within this six-year period.

In actual numbers for the data collected by the U.S. Department of Education, Oregon graduated 41 of the 52 freshmen athletes who enrolled seven years ago. In the previous report, Oregon had graduated 66 percent of its athletes, and Oregon's previous high for graduation rates of all athletes was 68 percent, in 1996 and 1999.

Oregon had a 50 percent graduation rate in men's basketball, based on four freshmen enrolling in 1995, and a 67 percent rate for women's basketball. Oregon had a 100 percent graduation rate for both men's and women's track and field, and an 89 percent rate for all other men's sports and a 55 percent rate for all other women's sports. The NCAA breaks down only the report for four men's and two women's sports, lumping the rest among `other.'

Oregon's average for the past four NCAA reports shows 67 percent of its athletes graduated, including 67 percent of the football players.

OSU had an overall graduation rate for athletes of 58 percent, compared to 50 percent for students in general. The Beavers also had a 50 percent graduation rate in men's basketball, 27 percent in baseball and 64 percent in other men's sports. For women, OSU reported no incoming freshmen in women's basketball that fall and had a 73 percent rate for other women's sports.

Nationally, male athletes are graduating at a rate of 54 percent, up 3 percentage points from the previous survey, while the rate for female athletes remained at 69 percent.

Among black male athletes in Division I, the graduation rate was 43 percent, and 60 percent for black females. Only 36 percent of male basketball players nationally graduated, and the rate for black basketball players was 28 percent. The rate for white male basketball players was 51 percent.

``The rates are still disappointingly low,'' said Francis Lawrence, chairman of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors Task Force on Academic Reform. ``This is something we need to watch closely and see if there's anything we can do to help move it up.''

Among Division I football players, the graduation rate went from 49 percent to 52 percent this year.

This NCAA graduation survey covered the group of athletes who were the first to be affected by initial-eligibility standards that raised the high school core course requirement from 11 to 13. The task force will work to raise the core-course requirements to 14 in October.

The complete graduation report can be found at www.ncaa.org/grad_rates/2002/d1.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

PAC-10 GRADUATION RATES

Percentages of students or athletes who graduated within six years of enrollment as freshmen at conference schools:

School Students Athletes Football

Arizona 55 44 50

Arizona State 49 54 50

California 82 69 46

Oregon 59 79 88

Oregon State 58 50 25

Stanford 93 90 81

UCLA 82 73 75

Southern California 73 62 47

Washington 70 67 64

Washington State 60 62 64