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June 18, 2003
WACO, Texas – The University of Virginia received the American Football Coaches Association’s 2003 Honorable Mention Academic Achievement honor, the AFCA announced on Wednesday.
The Cavaliers graduated more than 70 percent of their football squad for the honor. UVa leads the nation with 18 honorable mention academic achievement awards.
Fellow ACC rival Duke captured the top award with a perfect 100 percent graduation rate for the 11th time. The Atlantic Coast Conference also earned top conference accolades as its schools have been honored 75 times in the award was created in 1981.
Thirty other institutions were recognized for graduating 70 percent or more of their football players. Six of those institutions achieved a rate of 90 percent or better: Boston College, Connecticut, Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.
Others receiving honorable mention with a rate of 70 percent or better: Ball State, Baylor, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Marshall, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Purdue, South Carolina, Southern Methodist, Southern Mississippi, Texas Christian, Texas Tech, Tulane, Washington, West Virginia and Western Michigan.
The overall graduation rate of the 102 I-A schools was 59 percent. Fifty-one of the members responding were above the average and 51 were below the average.
Most Awards: Duke has won or shared the Academic Achievement Award 11 times. Notre Dame is second with six awards. Boston College has been honored three times.
Honorable Mention: Virginia has earned honorable mention status 18 times. Notre Dame and Rice have earned honorable mention status 16 times.
Top Conference: ACC schools have been honored 75 times since the award was created in 1981. The ACC’s 14 Academic Achievement Awards are the most among current Division I-A conferences. Since 1998, when the award was expanded to include all Division I-A conferences, Big Ten schools have been honored 28 times, with Northwestern winning the award twice.