So the latest NCAA Graduation figures came out, and Pitt didn’t do too well in key sports.

Football, 48 percent; basketball, 29 percent

This should not shock anyone. The seasons covered were Freshmen from the 1995-96 season to 1998-99. This is taking into account the changed standards which now includes JUCOs and transfers.

Honestly, I’m kind of surprised the basketball was that high. Those classes were at the height of the Ralph Willard error. I mean, think about the players that included: Kelli Taylor, Isaac Hawkins, Blount, and others who let’s just say were never serious about their studies for whatever reasons. There were just a lot of questionable characters at the time.

As for football, well, what can you say. Half Majors and half Harris recruits.

Dennis Dodd makes the argument that while it may be a less than positive thing — publicity-wise — for schools, it’s hard to blame many of the coaches unless they have been on the same job for an extensive period.

Meanwhile, the most accurate way to apply these grad rates is to the coaches who have been around since 1995, when the NCAA started counting. There are only 13 in I-A if you include just-retired Bill Snyder at Kansas State and Syracuse’s Paul Pasqualoni, who was responsible for the players in the last year of measurement (2003-04).

Oddly enough, BYU football only has a 40% graduation rate (it may have something to do with the Mormon missionary work, but still kind of amusing to note).

I will be more curious about the numbers in a few more years — when it reflects all of the Harris time and the Ben Howland/Jamie Dixon era.

A couple more articles about the results. I’m sorry, it is important, but considering I find most of the off-the-field stuff regarding big collegiate athtletics (football and basketball) to be a lousy process of indentured servitude, hypocrisy and lies that this tends to be a self-serving argument.

Schools and their fans at Boston College, Penn State and ND will point to their graduation rates as indicitive of how great their school and coaches follow the mission while then saying that it is an isolated incident when the players fire arrows through dorm walls, fights and their players are shoving counterfiet bills up their rectum to try and avoid being caught, uh, passing them.

It cuts both ways, and I just can’t work up the outrage.

You can view any school’s graduation rate, here. Pitt’s is here (PDF).