Dec. 23, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind – The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team is enjoying success both on the court and in the classroom this season. The 12 members of the Irish basketball program combined to produce a 3.244 grade-point average during the 2005 fall semester – its highest GPA ever and the fourth straight semester the team has been over a 3.000 grade index. It also was the first time that the Irish had a team average of better than 3.200.
Nine members of the team were over a 3.000 grade-point average – Ryan Ayers (3.250), Russell Carter (3.083), Rick Cornett (3.250), Colin Falls (3.333), Zach Hillesland (3.500), Chris Murphy (3.400), Kieran Piller (3.600), Chris Quinn (3.833) and Luke Zeller (3.400). Sixteen of 20 athletics programs at Notre Dame compiled graduation rates of 100 percent, and none were below 90 percent, according to the new Graduation Success Rate (GSR) measurement developed by the NCAA and announced this week. NCAA figures released Monday showed that, among Notre Dame’s men’s sports, baseball, cross country/track, fencing, ice hockey, soccer, swimming and tennis achieved 100 percent GSR scores. Football scored 96 percent, golf was 92 percent and basketball was 90 percent (lacrosse is not included because the program did not offer grants in aid during the years covered in the survey).
The Irish women’s programs with a GSR of 100 percent were basketball, cross country/track, fencing, golf, lacrosse, softball, swimming, tennis and volleyball. Soccer scored a 94 percent GSR.
The GSR was created to more accurately reflect actual graduation rates by including transfer data in the calculation. The graduation rate methodology used for the past decade 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.
Here are the top 10 schools (among the 119 Division I-A institutions) in terms of percentage of sports with 100 GSR scores:
| Institution | Percentage | 100 Scores/Sports Rated |
| 1. Notre Dame | .800 | 16/20 |
| 2. U.S. Naval Academy | .789 | 15/19 |
| 3. Northwestern | .722 | 13/18 |
| 4. Duke | .714 | 15/21 |
| 5. Illinois | .706 | 12/17 |
| 6. SMU | .643 | 9/14 |
| 7. Clemson | .600 | 9/15 |
| 8. Rice | .583 | 7/12 |
| Vanderbilt | .583 | 7/12 |
| 10. Central Florida | .571 | 8/14 |
| Wake Forest | .571 | 8/14 |