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The threshold is 930. Year 1 we were in the 880s. The past 2 seasons we were around 920. All 3 years we have been below the 930 requirement.

Joe Morehead Record 8–28 (.222) FBS teams have fallen below the required academic threshold of 930 for postseason eligibility since the start of the CFP era: • 2025 Akron • 2024 Akron (practice reduction) • 2023 NMSU (COVID waiver) • 2023 LSU (COVID waiver) • 2014-17 Idaho Folks really have the nerve to defend that.

People keep banging on Joe… wasn’t there just a post that it has improved every year he’s been here? And been above the threshold the last two years? &nbsp How is that him not “leading young men”?

We haven't won a Conference Championship since 2005 - our only one in the program's history and folks wanna come on here and blame NIL for our struggles that have existed long before NIL. NIL is not the reason we can't even compete in our own conference. NIL is not the reason why we got our ass kicked by Ohio Univ 30-10. We continue to hire overrated glorified assistant coaches expecting them to act as a Head Coach. FYI

My brother is a college head coach. College coaches are hired to Lead, guide, empower, educate, unify, build, and WIN. Akron is not a Power 5 School. 1st thing that comes to mind when Ohio State is mentioned is Football. 1st thing that comes to mind when Akron is mentioned is = EDUCATION and as a Akron Alum I am proud of that. I be damn if folks on here throw my Alma Mater under the bus in defense of a negligent coach allowing his players to not give a damn about academics. There is no excuse for that. Power 5 Schools can afford to pay coaches millions to leave on the strength of them not winning. As a mid major our goal is not to compete for National Championships. Our goal is to bring in a HC who can build a consistent winning program on the field and in the classroom. A winning program that unifies the city of Akron, Students, and Alums. With all the $$$ that has been dumped on this program we should be on a consistent level with Buffalo, Miami (OH), and Ohio Univ.

My uncle had season tickets for he and my aunt since I can remember and they never missed a game - he actually played FB for the Zips in 1988!! He told me he isn't renewing his tickets again. Kinda sad but I understand it, how many others will follow? He admitted it might be time to prioritize hoops and soccer and that's coming from a UA FB Alum.

That Pioneer Conference (or additional non-scholarship conferences of that type) might be the future for many G5 programs. There seems to be at least a few G5 teams in each conference that "chose the wrong time" to be terrible, to the point where NIL and the Portal make a recovery extremely difficult if not impossible: Kent, most of Conference USA, half of the Sunbelt, etc.

I've tried fighting the good fight of arguing to keep the program FBS. Each passing year as the cost of FBS escalates and the football program reaches new levels of ineptitude it's becoming harder and harder to defend. If this path continues one has to ask at what point should we explore the decision of joining Dayton in the non-scholaship Pioneer League? I'm not saying we're there yet, but that date might be approaching. I don't see the value in scholarship FCS as any cost savings there is more than offset by reduction in revenue.

So, to clarify, we won't notice a difference in the attendance.

Maybe UA admin really does not care because....the program is going to be cut or relegated back to FCS anyway? Was it somewhere on this site that there was a some info that one (urban) MAC university petioned to remain a conference member without football? Is the end of some sort coming after this upcoming season?

Per the NCAA website, teams must earn a four-year average APR of 930 to compete in championships. "For football, falling below the threshold bars a program from conference championship games and bowl games. The minimum threshold of 930 equates to a 50 percent graduation rate.

100% These players are essentially fluent throughout all schools that have a sports program. If a kid plays for 6 years at 4 different schools and tanks the last semester he is at each school, is the NCAA saying that school is responsible?!?! That is absurd!! Did we take kids from the portal that just tanked their last semester at their previous school and we inherited that GPA? If so, that is foolish. While I do think the NCAA is a hypocritical bunch, I still put this squarely on UA's administration. They had warnings and didn't address them. They should have spent less time (and $$) designing the 5th new A logo.

I don't disagree that the athletes we are targeting play a big part in this mess. The problem is this isn't a Miami (FL) issue where we're bringing in questionable characters, but still winning. Joe is bringing these players in and we're still going 8-38. Akron football is an embarrassment both on and off the field. We should probably revisit our recruiting strategies.

If that's the case Id expect under 1k fans to attend any games.

That was my thought as well. Why wasn't an action plan put in place after that disastrous 885 score year? This is already looking like a 2 year minimum ban. I wouldn't be surprised if it's more realistically 3 years. The University being reactive instead of proactive is a big reason why we find ourselves in messes so often.

This rule seems like it would hit Akron pretty hard. Being a lower tier D1 (and MAC) school it seems like several players in the last couple years have hit the portal and/or flunked out and never reappeared on another roster. I’d guess that this is fairly typical when dealing with so many Juco kids. They overestimated their value and ended up working at Wal Mart - and bringing down Akron’s APR in the process.

You're correct. There a many players who haven't been able to enroll at a school because of grades.

Every scholarship athlete can earn 2 points per year. 1 for staying in school and another for keeping grades above a certain threshold. If you have 85 scholarship athletes that means a team can earn 170 points per year. If you have 80 then it would be 160 and so on. They take the points earned and divide it by the points possible. That score is then multiplied by 1000 to arrive at APR. For Akron to be at a 913 it would be the equivalent of us scoring a 155/170 (based on 85 scholarships) a year. You don't get penalized for players who transfer to another school. The penalty would be if they drop out of school entirely or enter the portal, but don't enroll anywhere (which would also be the equivalent of dropping out).

I've tried to read up on how the APR is caluculated in regard to the score for each year (not the averaging of three). In this environment, in which thousands of athletes transfer each year, and UA specifically turns over 30-40% of its roster each season, how the hell do they calulate any kind of graduation rate? Or is the score based more on the grades (GPAs) of athletes for that academic year?

We can criticize the NCAA, question the formula that results in the classification, gripe about NIL and question the dedication of the modern athlete to academics, but one inescapable fact remains and that is that the University of Akron football program is the only program in this position. Every other school is operating under the same constraints and standards yet UA is the only program in this position and that's damn embarrassing.

Even in this anarchy of so-called college football, I don't think an athlete can just fail classes at one university and transfer to another and be eligible to play. Or maybe I'm wrong. Who knows anymore.

Do you have a source for that? My understanding is Akron can still participate in the Championship.

Akron can't win the MAC this year because it is barred from the league championship game, a point overlooked by the esteemed ABJ writer covering this story. At least we have the, uh, "Action Plan." That makes it all better. Can't wait for them to come up with Action Plans for the several other issues ailing the university. Interesting that Nemer didn't identify a single element of the Plan. Could it all just be another PR move by the BOT? Likely.

Once a kid mentally decides to enter the portal, whether that's actually in December/April or weeks or months before the window opens, there is nothing the program can do to control that kids actions anymore. If an education is not important to that player, they check out entirely, often not bothering to finish their courses. There is nothing the program can leverage against the kid to enforce his actions. Meanwhile, the kids who stay suffer collectively due to their actions. Once the portal changed, this education requirement should not be enforced. The programs who are still maintaining the requirements are rich enough to fake it. The problem isn't all on the kids currently in the program, it's the kids who check out mid semester because they know they are hitting the portal.

What must happen before going to a bowl game? If you guessed winning at least six games, you would be correct. He was brought here to win games. If we wanted a choirboy loser, we could have stuck with Arth. The central problem is, he isn't winning enough games. If Akron wins eight games and the MAC, I'm not concerned that we can't go to a bowl game we really can't afford to go to. Akron could take that success and run with it. If at this time next year, this nonsensical probation is gone and we are winning, all is good.