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UB Football Earns 2023 Academic Achievement Award
12/8/2023 11:03:00 AM | Football, Office of Student-Athlete Success
WACO, TX – The University at Buffalo football team was one of 13 schools recognized with the American Football Coaches Association 2023 Academic Achievement Award. UB was recognized for recording a 100 percent graduation rate for members of its 2016 freshman football student-athlete classes.
This is the first time Buffalo has earned the honor. The Bulls shared the award with Arkansas State, Clemson, Iowa State, Kansas State, Louisville, the U.S. Naval Academy, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, South Alabama, Texas-San Antonio and Virginia.
Buffalo is just the third Mid-American Conference school to earn the award since its inception in 1981, joining Miami (OH) (2011) and Toledo (2022).
"I'm very proud of our football program for achieving the 2023 AFCA Academic Award," Vice President and Director of Athletics Mark Alnutt said. "This aligns with our department's core value of Academic Excellence. It is a true testament of the hard work that our student-athletes put in the classroom with the expectation to earn a quality degree from the University at Buffalo. I would be remiss not to mention the work our coaches and academic support staff do to ensure these young men leave the University with a degree which fully prepares them for life after football."
This year's award marks the 12th time the NCAA's Graduation Success Rate (GSR) formula has been used to select the winner. From 1981 to 2007, the award was presented based on a formula used by the College Football Association and the AFCA. From 2008-17, the criteria for the AFCA's Academic Achievement Award was based on the highest NCAA GSR, and a Federal Graduation Rate of 75 percent or better. For 2018 and 2019, the AFCA used the NCAA's single-year APR. The AFCA returned to the NCAA GSR in 2022.
The GSR is based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes and holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees and non-scholarship students at schools that do not offer athletics aid. Under GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are passed to the receiving institution's GSR cohort.
The Academic Achievement Award was established by the College Football Association in 1981. The award recognized the CFA-member Football Bowl Subdivision institution with the highest graduation rate among members of its football team. When the CFA disbanded in 1997, the AFCA stepped in to present the award.
The award will be presented during the Honors Luncheon on Monday, January 8, at the 2024 AFCA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
Click here for a full list of former award winners.
This is the first time Buffalo has earned the honor. The Bulls shared the award with Arkansas State, Clemson, Iowa State, Kansas State, Louisville, the U.S. Naval Academy, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, South Alabama, Texas-San Antonio and Virginia.
Buffalo is just the third Mid-American Conference school to earn the award since its inception in 1981, joining Miami (OH) (2011) and Toledo (2022).
"I'm very proud of our football program for achieving the 2023 AFCA Academic Award," Vice President and Director of Athletics Mark Alnutt said. "This aligns with our department's core value of Academic Excellence. It is a true testament of the hard work that our student-athletes put in the classroom with the expectation to earn a quality degree from the University at Buffalo. I would be remiss not to mention the work our coaches and academic support staff do to ensure these young men leave the University with a degree which fully prepares them for life after football."
This year's award marks the 12th time the NCAA's Graduation Success Rate (GSR) formula has been used to select the winner. From 1981 to 2007, the award was presented based on a formula used by the College Football Association and the AFCA. From 2008-17, the criteria for the AFCA's Academic Achievement Award was based on the highest NCAA GSR, and a Federal Graduation Rate of 75 percent or better. For 2018 and 2019, the AFCA used the NCAA's single-year APR. The AFCA returned to the NCAA GSR in 2022.
The GSR is based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes and holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees and non-scholarship students at schools that do not offer athletics aid. Under GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are passed to the receiving institution's GSR cohort.
The Academic Achievement Award was established by the College Football Association in 1981. The award recognized the CFA-member Football Bowl Subdivision institution with the highest graduation rate among members of its football team. When the CFA disbanded in 1997, the AFCA stepped in to present the award.
The award will be presented during the Honors Luncheon on Monday, January 8, at the 2024 AFCA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
Click here for a full list of former award winners.
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