The Terrapin men’s football team will lose three scholarships next season because of substandard academic performance, the team announced Saturday.
The Terps’ Academic Progress Rate, which measures teams’ eligibility and retention rates among student-athletes, fell below the NCAA’s prescribed mark during the 2009-10 season, when the team finished 2-10.
Coach Randy Edsall and the Terps will absorb the three-scholarship hit this fall.
“We already have a system in place to deal with and rectify the situation,” Edsall said in a statement.
The Terps’ four-year APR for football was 922 out of a possible 1000, three points below the cut-off for penalties. The NCAA will officially release its findings and ensuing penalties later this spring.
It’s the first time any Terp program will have lost scholarships since the rating system was introduced in 2005.
“The APR gives us a four-year look at past performance, which unfortunately was not as good as we would have liked,” Athletics Director Kevin Anderson said in the release. “We do feel, though, that with changes in our staffs and processes, we will get a fresh perspective on how best to ensure we reach and surpass our goals academically in the future.”
The dip in academics occurred under former coach Ralph Friedgen, who had his contract bought out in December. In March, Edsall made it clear he wasn’t pleased with the academic condition of the program.
“One of the things that we have to get corrected this spring is I didn’t inherit a very good situation here in terms of the academics,” Edsall said. “We do have some people there that aren’t where I want them to be from an academic standpoint.”
ceckard@umdbk.com
