Post by Bornthrilla on Jan 11, 2007 13:31:11 GMT -5
Well-traveled Rams get solid grades
By John Dell
JOURNAL REPORTER
Thursday, January 11, 2007
While it hasn't been pleasant for Winston-Salem State on the basketball court this season, at least it can claim a small victory in the classroom.
The Rams had a respectable cumulative grade-point average of 2.7 in the first semester and didn't lose any of their 13 players to academic issues. Despite being away from campus for 21 days in November for road games and most of December, players stayed on top of their schoolwork.
Athletics Director Chico Caldwell was all smiles when he talked about the grades.
"I can't say enough about what that means because that proves that they and the coaches are serious about being student-athletes," Caldwell said. "So this means a lot."
Caldwell said that six players on the men's team had a 3.0 grade-point average or better in the first semester and only one of the 13 players failed to have a 2.0.
The Rams are 2-18 this season, with their only wins coming against Division II Anderson and Division III Ferrum. They have yet to get their first Division I win in their first season in transition, and won't play again until Jan. 18 at Norfolk State.
"Despite the brutal schedule and the mental anguish these kids have had to go through, because none of these kids are losers, and still rebound and keep their focus and never forget they are students first is just very pleasing to me," Caldwell said.
The women's team fared even better, with cumulative grade-point average of 2.9.
Part of the approach for the two basketball teams was to meet with the professors at the university who were teaching the players, Caldwell said. And through that a plan was formed with the use of laptop computers and other resources to keep the players involved.
When the teams traveled, they stayed at hotels that had Internet access and also meeting rooms where players could study together.
"The university has Internet-enhancing courses that have chat rooms where they can talk with professors," Caldwell said. "And that's available to the entire student body, but we wanted to make sure the players could get to that as well when they were on the road."
One of the things that Caldwell has tried to put into place since arriving in 2001 has been retention of athletes. And part of that strategy involves keeping athletes eligible and on course to graduate. To do that, Caldwell at first had an academic adviser for all the athletes, but found out that was too much for just one person. So the athletes started to work more closely with the university's academics-support system.
"The strategy we put in place has worked," Caldwell said. "From an academic standpoint, I talked to both teams and just said how proud of them I was. Because we put in a system, but the kids still have to do the work."
The NCAA keeps track of schools' graduation rates every six years involving athletes. In 1999, Caldwell said that WSSU's graduation rate was 35 percent. He said that the graduation rate has increased and estimated that it's now closer to 70 percent.
"Retention is the key," Caldwell said. "If you aren't retaining athletes you aren't graduating athletes. Over the past few years, that's improved."
Caldwell said that graduation rates in each of the sports are something that the NCAA looks at very closely, especially at the Division I level.
"If you don't have a respectable graduation rates now that we are Division I, you can get scholarships taken away and lose postseason play," Caldwell said.
• John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.
This story can be found at: www.journalnow.com/servlet/
By John Dell
JOURNAL REPORTER
Thursday, January 11, 2007
While it hasn't been pleasant for Winston-Salem State on the basketball court this season, at least it can claim a small victory in the classroom.
The Rams had a respectable cumulative grade-point average of 2.7 in the first semester and didn't lose any of their 13 players to academic issues. Despite being away from campus for 21 days in November for road games and most of December, players stayed on top of their schoolwork.
Athletics Director Chico Caldwell was all smiles when he talked about the grades.
"I can't say enough about what that means because that proves that they and the coaches are serious about being student-athletes," Caldwell said. "So this means a lot."
Caldwell said that six players on the men's team had a 3.0 grade-point average or better in the first semester and only one of the 13 players failed to have a 2.0.
The Rams are 2-18 this season, with their only wins coming against Division II Anderson and Division III Ferrum. They have yet to get their first Division I win in their first season in transition, and won't play again until Jan. 18 at Norfolk State.
"Despite the brutal schedule and the mental anguish these kids have had to go through, because none of these kids are losers, and still rebound and keep their focus and never forget they are students first is just very pleasing to me," Caldwell said.
The women's team fared even better, with cumulative grade-point average of 2.9.
Part of the approach for the two basketball teams was to meet with the professors at the university who were teaching the players, Caldwell said. And through that a plan was formed with the use of laptop computers and other resources to keep the players involved.
When the teams traveled, they stayed at hotels that had Internet access and also meeting rooms where players could study together.
"The university has Internet-enhancing courses that have chat rooms where they can talk with professors," Caldwell said. "And that's available to the entire student body, but we wanted to make sure the players could get to that as well when they were on the road."
One of the things that Caldwell has tried to put into place since arriving in 2001 has been retention of athletes. And part of that strategy involves keeping athletes eligible and on course to graduate. To do that, Caldwell at first had an academic adviser for all the athletes, but found out that was too much for just one person. So the athletes started to work more closely with the university's academics-support system.
"The strategy we put in place has worked," Caldwell said. "From an academic standpoint, I talked to both teams and just said how proud of them I was. Because we put in a system, but the kids still have to do the work."
The NCAA keeps track of schools' graduation rates every six years involving athletes. In 1999, Caldwell said that WSSU's graduation rate was 35 percent. He said that the graduation rate has increased and estimated that it's now closer to 70 percent.
"Retention is the key," Caldwell said. "If you aren't retaining athletes you aren't graduating athletes. Over the past few years, that's improved."
Caldwell said that graduation rates in each of the sports are something that the NCAA looks at very closely, especially at the Division I level.
"If you don't have a respectable graduation rates now that we are Division I, you can get scholarships taken away and lose postseason play," Caldwell said.
• John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.
This story can be found at: www.journalnow.com/servlet/
