You are viewing this article in the AnnArbor.com archives. For the latest breaking news and updates in Ann Arbor and the surrounding area, see MLive.com/ann-arbor
Posted on Tue, May 24, 2011 : 3:33 p.m.

Eastern Michigan basketball, football continue APR improvement

By Rich Rezler

Charles Ramsey was fired in April after just one winning season in six years as the Eastern Michigan men’s basketball coach.

On Tuesday, the NCAA released data that confirmed Ramsey’s teams were at least getting their job done in the classroom.

The Eagles had the Mid-American Conference’s lowest rolling Academic Performance Rate before Ramsey's arrival in 2005 and were penalized with a two-scholarship reduction after the 2005-06 report was released.

After four years of steady improvement, the Eagles are No. 4 in the 12-team conference with a 964 multi-year score in this year’s report, which measures from the 2006-07 school year through 2009-10.

Ramsey, an Ypsilanti native and Eastern Michigan graduate, told AnnArbor.com on the day he was fired as coach that he was leaving proud of his "academic clean-up" of the program.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Five Michigan teams record perfect APR scores; all 27 varsity programs avoid NCAA penalties
  • “As an alumni, I’m proud to say that I left the program in much better shape (academically) than when I came in," Ramsey said on April 6. “Whoever they decide to go with will come in under much, much smother circumstances and be able to really focus on coaching basketball early on and not have to clean it up.”

    Former Syracuse assistant coach Rob Murphy was named the new Eagles’ coach on April 21.

    The Eastern Michigan football team also continued a slight upward trend since its 902 score in 2004-05 and scored a 937 this year. The NCAA’s multi-year penalty line is 925. The national APR average for football is 946.

    EMU’s women’s programs all scored exceedingly well, including perfect 1,000-point scores by its gymnastics and cross country teams. Other women's scores include: softball (996), swimming (990), track (962), rowing (987), basketball (979), golf (975) and soccer (965).

    The school’s other men’s programs scores: wrestling (966), baseball (965), cross country (959), golf (955), swimming (938) and track (933).