Northern Iowa extends AD's contract

[tornado]

Rick Hartzell had his contract extended through 2009 by UNI.

http://fp.uni.edu/northia/article2.asp?ID=4969&SECTION=4

In the article about this, there is no denying Hartzell has presided over a span of outstanding athletic success, as the above article denotes.

But Hartzell also claims he has presided over great academic success. This statement I would challenge.
I would be happy for any UNI fan to respond.

The article claims that their overall GPA was 3.08. But that's only for one semester, and Hartzell also claims,
"Graduation rates are annually at the top of the Missouri Valley and Gateway Conferences."

But check out these official figures direct from the authoritative source, the NCAA:

http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2016

In these official figures, UNI's overall graduation rate is 62%.
That's 15% lower than Bradley (who sits atop the MVC), and only 5% above Indiana State, who sits at the #9 spot in the 10-team Valley.
I would say they are way cloaser to the bottom of the MVC.
And their basketball graduation/success ratio is not only the worst in the MVC, it is only half of the next worst team in the MVC.
Sorry if this seems like an insult, but all I am doing is quoting the NCAA's stats, I am not making this stuff up.

[flipper]

was is the status of our ad, ken k. is he under a long-term contract or does he go year-by-year?

[PTTB]

As a UNI fan, we have been given numbers recently that show academic success. There was a report done by the Des Moines Register that also ran in the USA Today about UNI.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2004-02-17-low-paid-coaches_x.htm

"Academically, Northern Iowa's athlete graduation rate consistently has exceeded the overall student undergraduate rate the last four years. During that time, the four-year graduation rate for athletes has ranged from 63% to 71%. The overall student rate has ranged from 61% to 64%."

---Note that these are 4 year graduation rates, not the 5 or 6 year grad rates that the NCAA counts.

A little bit older of an article (I can tell you the grad rates have improved pretty much every year over the past couple years).

http://www.umpr.uni.edu/news.asp?NewsID=1410

UNI's 400 student athletes have an average GPA of 3.07, and several of the teams have averages greater than 3.20. The student-athlete graduation rate is 66 percent, one of the best in the Missouri Valley Conference. "Academic performance of student athletes continues to be our top priority," said Hartzell.

http://www.baylorfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65725

This link takes you to Baylor's board where there is an article from the DM Register discussing black student-athlete graduation rates. It's from 2 years ago, and the numbers discussed were from the Weaver era. Pretty amazing turnaround for McDermott as they graduated zero players during Weaver's era (some who stayed graduated under McDermott btw)?

Here's the 2005 grad rates:
http://www2.ncaa.org/portal/academic..._gsr_data.html (click on N and then U of Northern Iowa)

Here's where they list UNI's student-athlete graduation success rate at 81%.:
http://www.ncaa.org/grad_rates/2005/d1_school_data.html (click on N and then U of Northern Iowa)

[tornado]

Thanks for the response, PTTB.
As far as I am concerned, it is to everyone's advantage
nationwide to see those graduation rates as high as possible.
Given that most of the athletes studied were being given some
or all of their education for free, via scholarship, and at the
taxpayers' expense, I think we (as tax payers) have a right to
ask for some good results.
Not sure how many schools do this, but could the awarding of
athletic scholarships be even MORE strongly tied to academic performance?
In other words, set a guideline....maybe a C+ or B average and
have the kid take the same courses as everyone else (none of
these Basketball 101 and phoney courses like Jim Harrick's).
Then if he falls below the guideline, he has to start paying some
of his own tuition!!
I know it sounds absurd, but isn't it an idea whose time has come?

[PTTB]

It's definitely an idea that needs to be discussed, IMO.