Belmont University Athletics continues to add to its reputation as a model for academic excellence within NCAA Division I.
In assessing the 2019 NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR) data reporting, Belmont stands in exclusive company as one of only 11 NCAA Division I institutions with at least nine athletic teams earning APR Public Recognition List honors – men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s cross country, men’s cross country, men’s track & field, women’s soccer and women’s tennis – while also having at least 60 percent of its total sport offerings making the list.
The 11 institutions meeting that high standard represent a veritable who’s who of the most prestigious universities in the country:
- Belmont
- Bradley
- Colgate
- Columbia
- Gonzaga
- Holy Cross
- Lehigh
- Northwestern
- Notre Dame
- Saint Louis
- Villanova
Taken further, Belmont and Gonzaga are the only schools in 2019 to reach the
APR milestone and have both men’s and women’s basketball programs reach the
NCAA Tournament. In addition, the men’s basketball team is the only institution
in Division I to make the Public Recognition List every year since its
inception and was lauded in 2019 for the third time as the NCAA
March Madness Academic Bracket Champion by InsideHigherEd.com. Belmont’s
women team also made it to the Academic
Championship Game in their bracket this year, coming in second overall to
the national winner, Stanford.
For the 2019 spring semester, the overall grade point average (GPA) for Belmont student-athletes was 3.379, which marks the 43rd consecutive semester they have earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher. The Bruins currently hold the 2017-18 Ohio Valley Conference Academic Trophy, signifying the OVC institution with the greatest percentage of its eligible student-athletes that earn a 3.25 grade-point average or higher for that academic year. Belmont has claimed its conference’s academic achievement award 15 of the last 17 years. The current year’s trophy winner will be announced later this summer.
