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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, September 5, 2003

Chaminade tops in graduation rates

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

Chaminade and Brigham Young-Hawai'i posted the highest student-athlete graduation rates in the NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference, according to an NCAA study released this week.

The study covered athletes on scholarship who entered college as freshmen during the 1996-97 academic year, and measured the percentage of students who graduated within six years.

The annual report is one of the most comprehensive overviews of Division II athletic programs and serves as a measuring stick of a school's academic excellence.

Nationally, the research showed that 52 percent of the 10,052 Division II freshman student-athletes who entered school in 1996 graduated.

In the Pacific West Conference, Chaminade's student-athletes recorded a 91-percent graduation rate, followed by Brigham Young-Hawai'i at 56 percent. Montana State-Billings was third at 50 percent, followed by Western New Mexico at 37 percent, Hawai'i-Hilo at 33 percent and Hawai'i Pacific at 27 percent.

Student-athletes who transfer out or attain early professional status can count as a non-graduate, the report said. Results also can be greatly affected by coaching changes or an elimination of a sport, according to Division II officials.

Chaminade was the only Hawai'i Division II school to increase its graduation rate from last year's statistics, recording an increase of three percentage points.

"We have good students and we have good academic support," said Chaminade athletic director Aaron Griess. "Athletically, we've just been fortunate in the past few years to be able to recruit more student-athletes rather than just the athlete-students."

Chaminade's graduation rates of student-athletes also ranked first for Hawai'i's Division II schools compared to the school's overall student body, according to the 2003 study. Chaminade's 91 percent graduation rate was 57 percentage points higher than its student body followed by BYUH at 13 percentage points and Hawai'i-Hilo at 1 percentage point. Hawai'i Pacific was 12 percentage points below its 39-percent graduation rate for its overall student body.

Over the past four years, Chaminade and Hawai'i-Hilo have posted the highest student-athlete graduation rates for Hawai'i's Division II programs, at 58 and 53 percent, respectively, followed by Hawai'i Pacific at 33 percent, according to the study. Brigham Young-Hawai'i did not become a member of NCAA Division II until September 1996 and therefore only has student-athlete graduation rates available for this year's study.

Last year, Hawai'i-Hilo was the top Division II school, graduating 100 percent of its student-athletes. As a result, the Vulcans received $25,000 as winners of the USA Today/NCAA Academic Achievement Award.

Hawaii-Hilo assistant athletic director Jim DeMello said a coaching change in men's basketball in the 1998-99 season may have contributed to the spike in the Vulcans' non-graduate numbers for the 2003 report. The team lost all five of its freshmen — who were recruited by previous coach Jim Forkum — when a new coach came aboard, DeMello said.

"That was just before (current coach) Jeff Law came," DeMello said.

HPU athletic director Russell Dung linked the school's 2003 student-athlete graduation rates to the cancellation of its soccer program after the 1996-97 season.

"We stopped the (soccer) program after the PacWest broke up because of scheduling," Dung said. "We lost some soccer players during that period."

Dung called the NCAA report "distorted" because it tracks only freshmen and does not include older transfers. In HPU's case, the school recruits foreign players who have played at junior colleges before joining HPU. Nearly 100 percent of all those foreign transfers graduate, Dung said.

"Some sports have found success in recruiting freshmen in softball and maybe tennis, whereas in basketball and volleyball, we found a lot of success in getting junior college transfers or transfers," Dung said. "I think our foreign international students all graduate."

BYUH athletic director Ken Wagner said he didn't have specifics about the 1996-97 freshman class, but said the NCAA methodology may be flawed because some student-athletes at BYUH transfer to other schools and are counted as non-graduates for BYUH.

"We have quite of few of those, like in volleyball, a lot of those kids may leave, but if they don't graduate here, it's like they don't graduate," Wagner said. "What I'm really interested in is: 'Are the people we have in our program graduating?' And they are."

BYU-HAWAI'I

Wagner returns as AD: For the second time, Ken Wagner will head the BYUH athletic department. He succeeds Randy Day, who plans to concentrate on teaching at BYUH.

Wagner said he will remain as coach for the BYUH men's basketball team. He said he will be assisted in the athletic director post by Dawn Kurihara and Mike Apo. Wagner was BYUH's athletic director from 1992 to 2000.

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2458.