Having emerged from one of the roughest periods in school history, Southern University's athletic teams showed a clean bill of academic health from the NCAA when its latest progress scores were released Tuesday.
Four programs — women's cross country, men's cross country, women's bowling and women's tennis — posted perfect single-year scores in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate (APR), and all of the Jaguars' teams finished above the 930 threshold on their multi-year scores.
The APR holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete each semester.
"APR is a team effort, and I am very proud of everyone involved. It is gratifying to have another good year of APR scores, especially when reflected in the scores of our peer groups across the nation," athletic director Roman Banks said in a statement.
"It is a testament of how hard our student athletes performed well in the classroom and the hard work of our academic team, coaches and support staff."
Eleven of Southern's 15 sports posted scores over 950, according to the annual APR report released by the NCAA. Football was closest to the 930 threshold at 934. Baseball was second-closest at 945.
Southern had been on a long, painful APR cleanup process until 2021, ending a nine-year saga that began when a random NCAA check found 439 instances in which Southern had improperly certified 218 athletes in a six-year period.
Southern was fined $5,000, subjected to practice limitations and had scholarship reductions in several sports — including 15 in football over a three-year period.
Southern expanded and revamped its compliance infrastructure. An academic center for athletes opened in 2018 with computer labs, tutorial services and meeting space to study. Southern added five full-time tutors and supplemented them with others working on a contract basis.
A nutrition center was recently finished, and a mental health area is also in the works.
Southern has been penalty-free since Nov. 24, 2021.