Georgetown's 2020-21 APR Raises Concerns About Program's Focus on Academics

Georgetown's APR has seen a concerning dip in recent years, with its 2020-21 APR raising fresh red flags for the program's stated commitment to academic excellence.

While everyone can acknowledge that there is plenty for Georgetown men’s basketball to improve on the court, recently-released APR ratings for 2020-21 show that the program has taken a significant dip in academic performance too in recent years.

The Academic Progress Rate Institutional Report is a composite measure based upon how individual team members do academically, and is released by the NCAA through a report each summer.

The NCAA’s website says, “the Academic Progress Rate (APR) holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete for each academic term.”

Georgetown men’s basketball APR for 2020-21 was recently shown to be 860, an alarmingly low number compared to other Georgetown University athletic programs, and across all NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball programs as a whole.

How bad is that 860 number? Here is some context.

(Georgetown numbers can be found here. NCAA APR trend data can be found here)

Across Georgetown Sports

• Georgetown men’s basketball has the lowest APR out of all listed men’s sports at Georgetown. The next closest is men’s baseball, at 931.

• Georgetown men’s basketball has the lowest APR out of any sport at Georgetown— men’s or women’s. The lowest APR of any women’s athletics program at Georgetown is 957— a gap of 97 points compared to Georgetown men’s basketball.

Across College Athletics

• According to the NCAA’s report, Georgetown men’s basketball’s percentile rank within its own sport is in the 1st-10th percentile, a shockingly low number. Within all Division 1 sports, the program’s percentile rank is also 1st-10th.

• Georgetown’s 2020-21 of 860 is 105 points lower than the average APR of 965 for all NCAA men’s basketball teams.

• Georgetown’s four-year multiyear APR of 917 is below the four-year average of 968 for all NCAA men’s basketball programs.

The men’s basketball totals for the last four years that APR was measured are as follows:

2016-17: 933

2017-18: 927

2018-19: 935

2019-20: APR measurements suspended

2020-21: 860

Georgetown’s poor APR can in part be explained due to the program’s player retention issues under head coach Patrick Ewing, as each player gets a “point” for staying academically eligible and for staying into the next semester each year. Georgetown has struggled to get players to stay in the program for several years, thus impacting its APR.

But the program could be set to pay a price soon for its player retention shortcomings if it doesn’t figure things out.

If the NCAA reinstates the standard APR penalties that were suspended in October 2020 for two years at the recommendation of the Division 1 Committee on Academics, Georgetown could be in trouble if its declining APR trend continues, or even just stays the same as it is now. A previous NCAA release noted that “teams that scored below the [930] benchmark would have to face penalties that encourage an emphasis and prioritization on academics.”

The penalties are expected to be reinstated in 2023.

Penalties can range from a reduction of scholarships to a ban on postseason competition. The benchmark of 930, set by the NCAA, “roughly predicts a 50% graduation rate” according to the NCAA.

In response to a request for comment, Georgetown University Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Lee Reed made the following statement to Hilltop Hoops through a Georgetown athletic department spokesperson:

“Georgetown University is deeply committed to the academic success of the student-athletes who are members of our men’s basketball program. The disruptive effects of the pandemic, and the change to NCAA transfer rules has created a challenging set of circumstances that have adversely impacted our APR. We take these issues very seriously and have enhanced the educational resources offered to the members of our men’s basketball program.”

When Georgetown let go of John Thompson III back in 2017, Georgetown University President Jack DeGioia mentioned in a statement that Georgetown is “committed to taking the necessary steps to strengthen our program and maintaining the highest levels of academic integrity and national competitiveness.”

The program has fallen short of both those goals so far under Patrick Ewing, and turnover at its academic advisor position over the last several years surely hasn’t helped matters.

Kim Curry, former Georgetown academic advisor who was beloved by many in the program, left the university in May 2018 after seven years as Academic Coordinator for the men’s basketball team.

Her replacement, Debra Martin, held the title of Associate Director, Academic Services for Men’s Basketball. However, she has since moved on within the university, and is now the Associate Director, Academic Services for the university’s Academic Resource Center.

The current academic advisor for the men’s basketball team, according to the Academic Resource Center website, is Shenise Miller, whose title is officially Associate Director, Academic Services for Men’s Basketball.

According to her bio, Miller joined Georgetown “after ten years of public service in Washington, D.C. public and public charter schools.” Her LinkedIn profile says that she worked as a special education teacher for DC Public Schools for three years, and as a special education teacher at Cesar Chavez PCS for Public Policy for nearly 6 years before that.

There is plenty to watch for on the court with this team heading into the season, coming off an 0-20 Big East season, but the team’s APR is a storyline worth monitoring if the NCAA reinstates penalties for failure to meet its benchmark, as is expected next year.

Failure to meet expectations both academically and athletically for the flagship athletic program of Georgetown University should be concerning for university leadership, and it will be interesting to see what is done to raise that APR moving forward. The 2021-22 APR for Georgetown, which will be released next year around this time, will say a lot.