Oct. 31, 2011

Nineteen of the University of Notre Dame’s men’s and women’s athletic programs posted Graduation Success Rate numbers that ranked them best in the nation within their sports (including 18 perfect 100 scores) – and 11 produced federal graduation rates that led all NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) institutions (including nine perfect 100 scores), according to institutional research based on 2011 graduation-rate figures released last week by the NCAA.

GSR statistics for Irish women’s sports featured all 11 perfect 100 scores – in basketball, cross country/track, crew/rowing, fencing, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis and volleyball.

GSR statistics for Irish men’s sports featured seven perfect 100 scores – in baseball, basketball, cross country/track, fencing, golf, soccer and swimming – plus a 97 in football that ranked number one, 95 in both hockey and lacrosse and a 93 in tennis.

All 11 Irish women’s programs had GSR rates ranking them first within their sports among the NCAA FBS subset of 120 schools. Eight Irish men’s programs had GSR rates ranking them first within their sports, while one program finished second and another tied for third:

• Women’s basketball at 100 tied for first with 32 other schools.

• Women’s cross country/track and field at 100 tied for first with 16 other schools.

• Women’s crew/rowing at 100 tied for first with Boston College, North Carolina, USC, Stanford and Syracuse.

• Women’s fencing at 100 tied for first with Boston College, Duke, North Carolina and Northwestern.

• Women’s golf at 100 tied for first with 56 other schools.

• Women’s lacrosse at 100 tied for first with 11 other schools.

• Women’s soccer at 100 tied for first with 21 other schools.

• Women’s softball at 100 tied for first with 27 other schools.

• Women’s swimming at 100 tied for first with 21 other schools.

• Women’s tennis at 100 finished tied for first with 70 other schools.

• Women’s volleyball at 100 ranked tied for first with 45 other schools.

• Baseball at 100 tied for first with Boston College, Stanford, the U.S. Air Force Academy and Wake Forest.

• Men’s basketball at 100 tied for first with BYU, Duke, Illinois, Marshall, Utah State, Wake Forest and Western Kentucky.

• Men’s cross country/track and field at 100 tied for first – with New Mexico State, Rice, Rutgers, Stanford and Virginia Tech.

• Men’s fencing at 100 tied for first with Boston College, North Carolina and Stanford.

• Men’s golf at 100 tied for first with 36 other schools.

• Men’s soccer at 100 tied for first with Connecticut, Marshall, Northwestern and Wake Forest.

• Men’s swimming at 100 tied for first with nine other schools.

• Football at 97 finished first – ahead of Northwestern (94) and Boston College, Duke and Rice (all at 93).

• Men’s hockey at 95 ranked second – behind the U.S. Air Force Academy at 97.

• Men’s lacrosse at 95 stood third (tied with North Carolina), behind Duke and the U.S. Naval Academy (both at 96).

Six Irish women’s programs had perfect 100 federal rates ranking them first within their sports among the NCAA FBS subset, while one program finished third and another tied for third. Five Irish men’s programs had federal rates ranking them first within their sports (three with perfect 100 scores) among the NCAA FBS subset, while one program finished second, another fourth and two finished in fifth place.

The federal figures showed that – among Notre Dame’s women’s sports – cross country/track, crew/rowing, golf, lacrosse, tennis and volleyball achieved 100 percent scores. Women’s swimming scored 96 and women’s softball 93 among other Irish raw federal scores. Among Notre Dame’s men’s sports, cross country/track, fencing, and golf achieved 100 percent federal scores. Swimming scored 95, hockey 91 and lacrosse 90 among other Irish men’s raw federal scores:

• Women’s cross country/track and field at 100 ranked tied for first – with Boston College, Oregon State and Rice.

• Women’s crew/rowing at 100 finished first ahead of Syracuse (95), North Carolina (94), Oregon State (93) and Stanford (92).

• Women’s golf at 100 tied for first with 16 other schools.

• Women’s lacrosse at 100 tied for first with North Carolina and Virginia.

• Women’s tennis at 100 tied for first with 15 other schools.

• Women’s volleyball at 100 tied for first with Arkansas, Boston College, Bowling Green, Hawaii, Iowa State, Stanford and Western Kentucky.

• Men’s cross country/track and field at 100 ranked tied for first – with Duke, Idaho, New Mexico State, SMU and Virginia Tech.

• Men’s fencing at 100 tied for first with Stanford.

• Men’s golf at 100 ranked tied for first with 19 other schools.

• Men’s lacrosse finished tied for first place at 90 with North Carolina – followed by Ohio State (85) Duke (83) and Virginia (83).

• Men’s hockey at 91 ranked first – followed by Boston College (71), Michigan (68) and Western Michigan (65).

• Men’s swimming at 95 stood second behind Miami (Fla.) at 100.

• Women’s swimming at 96 tied for third (with Missouri) behind Iowa State and Stanford (at 100).

• Women’s fencing at 80 stood third behind Northwestern (100) and Ohio State (93).

• Men’s soccer at 81 ranked fourth, behind Duke (93), Northwestern (86) and Michigan (82).

• Football at 83 ranked fifth, behind Boston College (87), Northwestern (86), Rice (84) and Stanford (84).

• Men’s basketball at 80 ranked tied for fifth (with Rice and Stanford) behind Utah State (100), TCU (89), BYU (83) and Oregon (83).

• Women’s softball at 93 stood tied for eighth (with Nebraska) behind Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue and Tulsa (all at 100), and Alabama, Stanford and Virginia (all at 94).

• Baseball at 71 stood tied for eighth (with Minnesota) behind Boston College (88), Toledo (83), Northwestern (82), Michigan (81), Virginia Tech (81), Stanford (79) and Vanderbilt (75).

• Women’s soccer at 89 ranked tied for 10th, behind Duke, Maryland, Michigan State and Penn State (all at 100), Northwestern and Rice (96), Syracuse (92), Southern Mississippi (91) and Buffalo (90). Illinois, Purdue, Stanford, Temple and Wisconsin also stood at 89.

• Women’s basketball at 86 stood tied for 10th (with Iowa and Texas Tech) behind Wake Forest (100), Washington (93), Ohio State, Rice and Stanford (all at 92), Mississippi and Mississippi State (at 91) and Florida and South Carolina (90).

The federal graduation rate methodology used by the Department of Education counts all student-athletes who transfer from or leave an institution for any reason as non-graduates from their initial school, even if they leave in good academic standing.