Jul 03, 2008
There was a time when the NCAA didn't have such strict academic regulations.
A time before academic reform efforts changed the standards division I programs had to meet.
Men's basketball coach Sergio Rouco can explain:
"As coaches, we are cleaning up the program academically, while trying to win games," he said.
Since the APR (academic progress rate) was instituted in 2003, athletic programs have had to live up to a higher academic standards for their student-athletes.
The APR system is an assessment of academic performance that gives points to teams based on student-athletes reaching academic eligibility.
A score of 925 during a four-year span is needed in order to appease the NCAA, something FIU was not able to do in basketball, football, baseball, men's track and women's swimming from 2003-2007, all five teams scored under 925.
As a result of the low scores, FIU lost more scholarships than any other team in division I in 2007 and lost more than five total scholarships in 2008.
Rouco believes that the new rules are in the best interest of the student-athletes and education, but has made it more difficult for coaches to keep their jobs.
'Harsh'
"The APR started the year I came in here in 2003, so I inherited it. We are frustrated as coaches because they threw something at us as an experiment, but while they tweak it as we go along some coaches are losing their jobs," Rouco said. "You should have something established if you're having a rule so harsh."
With some coaches paying for the failures of previous administrations, it has become harder to survive as a division I coach in Rouco's opinion.
The athletic department has gone through seven coaches in the last two years, four of those coaches were fired.
Rouco, who is 42-74 in four seasons as head coach, hasn't changed the way he has recruited because of FIU's emphasis on academics.
"You are more pro-student here than any other institution I have been at. Miami is a city where kids have to be academically oriented. They can be easily distracted," he said. "It never changed with me."
Despite the University's stress on academics over the years, the football, baseball and men's basketball teams need to score at least 900 next year or they will face postseason ban.
And if they do not score at least 900 the following year, the programs will be banned from division I and the Football Bowl Subdivision.
As a result of the severe consequences low APR scores may bring, Monique Garcia was hired roughly three months ago to serve as an APR specialist, one of the only employees of her kind in the nation. Working under the compliance office, Garcia is the "gatekeeper" of all scholarship athletes, and will be working with incoming athletes and making sure APR guidelines are met.
Garcia understands the university's vision and is impressed with FIU's direction, which has been initiated by athletic director Pete Garcia.
"I am impressed with Pete's [Garcia] realization that this is a process. From the beginning of recruiting to graduation. He is not just into the numbers but the process," Garcia said.
"There is a commitment of everyone to start a foundation with a clean slate from the registrar's office to me."
As the APR specialist, Garcia is also an assistant director of compliance, who will work with Eligibility Assistant Director Jessica Plantada-Diaz and financial aid specialists in the University to prepare FIU to succeed for the next circulation of APR evaluation.
A start
After a successful 2007-08 academic year for athletes that saw a tremendous cumulative GPA improvement, Garcia is sure of the positive direction, but it is the incoming recruits who will have to get the grades in order for the University to be released of its probation.
The recruiting process will be more challenging than ever in the search to bring the best student-athletes to the University who can succeed on the field and in the classroom.
"We have to make this better," Garcia said.
Those words have rattled FIU's athletic program more than ever before.