UB football recognized for academic excellence

UB is one of 13 universities sharing the American Football Coaches Association’s 2023 Academic Achievement Award recognizing a 100% graduation rate for members of the 2016 freshman class of football student-athletes.

UB is receiving the award for the first time; other recipients are Arkansas State University, Clemson University, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, the University of Louisville, the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of North Carolina, Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of South Alabama, the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Virginia

The Academic Achievement Award, sponsored by BSN Sports, is presented annually by the Memphis Touchdown Club. Recipients will be recognized during the Honors Luncheon on Jan. 8 at the 2024 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) convention in Nashville.

“I'm very proud of our football program for achieving the 2023 AFCA Academic Award,” says Mark Alnutt, vice president and director of athletics. “This aligns with our department's core value of academic excellence. It is a true testament of the hard work that our student-athletes put in the classroom with the expectation to earn a quality degree from the University at Buffalo.

“I would be remiss,” Alnutt adds, “not to mention the work our coaches and academic support staff do to ensure these young men leave the university with a degree that fully prepares them for life after football.”

This year’s Academic Achievement Award marks the 12th time the NCAA’s graduation success rate (GSR) formula has been used to select the winners. From 1981 to 2007, the award was presented based on a formula used by the College Football Association and the AFCA. From 2008-17, the criteria were based on the highest NCAA GSR, and a federal graduation rate of 75% or higher. For 2018 and 2019, the AFCA used the NCAA’s single-year APR (academic progress rate). The AFCA returned to the NCAA GSR in 2022.

The GSR is based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes and holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for mid-year enrollees and non-scholarship students at schools that do not offer athletics aid. With the GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are passed to the receiving institution’s GSR cohort.

The Academic Achievement Award was established by the College Football Association in 1981. The award recognized the CFA-member Football Bowl Subdivision institution with the highest graduation rate among members of its football team. When the CFA disbanded in 1997, the AFCA stepped in to present the award.