Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Aztecs on the right path academically


As spring football practice continues at San Diego State, Chuck Long has the Aztecs on the right path … at least academically.
SDSU’s second-year head coach has spelled out a 4 ½-year plan for his players to apply both on the field and in the classroom.
Under the plan, the Aztecs expect players to graduate within 4 ½ years to keep the grass from growing between the time they finish football and graduate from college.
Here’s how it works: Say a freshman comes in with the current 2007 class. If he redshirts this season and plays the next four years, his SDSU football career concludes in December 2011. If he graduates in 4 ½ years, that also occurs in December 2011. Under this scenario, players won’t be tempted to leave school after their football career is done without graduating.
According to the most recent NCAA Graduation-Rate Report, SDSU student-athletes graduated at a rate of 81 percent. This percentage is higher than for the general student population.
SDSU was also recently recognized with the Diversity in Athletics Award for being one of the top athletics programs in the country for its graduation rate of African-American male student-athletes and Title IX compliance.
Chuck Long and his staff are definitely trying to keep the Aztecs on pace academically. Now if they can do something about last year’s 3-9 record and actually go to a bowl game, it would be another feather in SDSU’s cap.

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