An article on Pitt graduation rates in football and basektball quantifies something we have all known. The 90s sucked for Pitt athletics’ marquee programs.
The numbers released yesterday show the Panthers have a 0 percent graduation rate (for the freshman class of 1998-99) for men’s basketball and 53 percent for football. Their four-year average (1996-99) is 13 percent for men’s basketball and 31 percent for football.
Those numbers are not good, but they are not an accurate portrayal of the academic progress made in both sports.
The four-year average for men’s basketball reflects the last four classes of the Ralph Willard era. But numbers to be released next year will be for the freshman class that enrolled in 1999 — Ben Howland’s first class — and Pitt’s graduation rate for that class is 100 percent.
There have been three graduating classes under the Howland/Dixon regime. In those three classes, there were 10 players and nine have graduated; one has one semester left to earn his degree.
“At worst, we’re 90 percent, and we’ll likely be at 100 percent by the end of the summer,” Dixon said. “When Ben and I got here, we understood the numbers, and we knew what our priority had to be. This has been a constant point of emphasis for us.”
The football numbers also will begin to improve each year now that the classes are going to reflect former coach Walt Harris’ recruiting classes instead of classes that were thrown together during the transition from Johnny Majors to Harris.
The numbers released yesterday represent Harris’ first full recruiting class. And unlike the graduation success rate, which was released last fall, the federal rate does not take into account transfers, both in and out of the program. Even still, the 53 percent is a big jump from last year’s number — 31 percent — and a far cry from two years ago when the Panthers were among the lowest in the country at 16 percent.
And Harris’ second full class — which will be next year’s numbers — will jump to 65 percent, and in two years the rate will be 73 percent.
It’s embarrassing when you don’t graduate the players. It’s pathetic when you can’t even win games.
