INDIANAPOLIS – NCAA President Mark Emmert expects athletes at historically Black colleges and universities to make the grade and he’s willing to help after seeing the results of the latest Academic Progress Rates.
The NCAA anned Jackson State and Southern of the Southwestern Athletic Conference from postseason play in football next season and did the same thing for Southern and Grambling in men’s basketball, citing poor classroom performance by all three schools and a host of others in the SWAC and Mid-Eastern Athletic conferences.
The SWAC does not get an automatic bid to the NCAA’s FCS playoffs, but its own conference title game could be affected.
The NCAA released the penalties Tuesday. Southern became the first school to be banned from the postseason in two sports in the same year football and men’s basketball because of academic performance.
“You’re right that there are a number of historically Black colleges and universities that have been penalized, especially through the postseason ban,” Emmert said. “We are concerned about that, have met with those institutions to help them develop ways for improvement and to help provide resources to help them be successful.”
The impact of the penalties could swing the balance of power in the SWAC and MEAC, both comprised of HBCUs, and both of which get automatic bids to the NCAA basketball tourneys, too.
The numbers are striking: The NCAA evaluated more than 340 schools forthe APR report but only 24 of them about 7 percent of the total are considered historically Black colleges or universities.
