Graduation Rate at USC Best Among BCS Teams

USC may not have finished high enough in the bowl championship series rankings to play in the Sugar Bowl, the designated national championship game, but when it comes to college football graduation rates, the Trojans rank well ahead of Oklahoma and Louisiana State.

By graduating 61% of its players, USC held at least a 21 percentage-point advantage over the two other national-title contenders, according to a study of graduation rates of the bowl teams performed by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida. LSU graduated 40%, Oklahoma 33%.

NCAA statistics were used in the study, based on the freshman classes from 1993-94 to 1996-97. Students are given six years to graduate, but athletes who transfer -- even if in good academic standing -- count against a school. Although the NCAA reported this year that 51% of football student-athletes graduated, 25% of the bowl teams -- 14 schools -- had football graduation rates of less than 40%.

“If there were a top-10 ranking for graduation rates among bowl teams, Northwestern and Boston College would have played for the national championship,” said Richard Lapchick, director of the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program at Central Florida.

Northwestern had an 83% graduation rate, followed by Boston College, 79%; Virginia, 76%; Tulsa, 66%, and Oregon, 64%. Arkansas and Fresno State were tied for the lowest rate at 26%. Navy is the only bowl school that does not release graduation rates.

The Trojans had the highest rate for any school in a BCS bowl game, Oklahoma the lowest.

The rate for the Sooners includes classes that entered school before Bob Stoops became coach in 1999.

The study also included a gender and racial breakdown of the campus leaders of the 56 bowl teams.

In the positions of head coach, coordinator, school president, athletic director and faculty athletic representative, 94% of positions were held by whites. White women held 6% of those jobs.

UCLA’s Karl Dorrell is the only minority head coach of a bowl team. There were four minority coaches among the 117 Division I-A schools this season.

There were also only eight minority coordinators, including USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow. USC’s Mike Garrett is one of only three African American athletic directors.

“It is astonishing that only 13 of the 56 bowl schools employ any person of color in these key decision-making positions,” Lapchick said.

“It is no wonder why there is only one African American head coach in a bowl game.”

Associated Press contributed to this report.