May 23, 2006

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland football team was honored today for making the "honor roll" of the American Football Coaches' Association for its graduation rates in 2005. The Terrapins were one of 28 schools (of 104 participating) that posted a graduation rate of 70 percent or higher and the Terrapins have done so in each of head coach Ralph Friedgen's first five years as head coach at his alma mater.

Nine Atlantic Coast Conference schools were recognized for graduating at least 70 percent of their football student-athletes according to the AFCA's annual Academic Achievement Awards data, most of any conference.

SMU won top honors with a 100 percent graduation rate while Boston College and Duke were among six Division I-A institutions with a graduation rate of 90 percent or better. The ACC's nine schools was followed on the list of conference leaders by the Big East and Big 12 with four. The Big 10 and Conference USA were each represented by three schools while Mid-American, Mountain West, Pacific-10, Southeastern, Sun Belt conferences each had one school.

In addition to Boston College and Duke, three other institutions achieved a rate of 90 percent or better: Northwestern, Notre Dame and Southern Mississippi. Those institutions graduating 70 percent or more of their football student-athletes are Auburn, Baylor, California, Cincinnati, Clemson, Colorado State, Florida State, Iowa, Iowa State, Maryland, Miami (Ohio), Nebraska, North Carolina, Penn State, Rice, Rutgers, Syracuse, Texas Tech, Troy, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and West Virginia.

The overall graduation rate of the 104 schools that responded to the survey was 58 percent, equaling last year's mark. Fifty of the members responding were above the average and 54 were below the average. The median graduation rate was 57 percent, compared to 57 percent last year and 60 percent two years ago.

The study involves the freshmen class from the academic year of 2000-2001, including those who entered at that time but who did not receive financial aid until after their initial year, or who transferred from another institution and subsequently received a grant-in-aid.