Des Moines Register

09-28-06

ISU basketball players stalled in classroom

Only 12 percent of Cyclones on scholarship graduated in six years, NCAA report shows.

By TOM WITOSKY

REGISTER STAFF WRITER

Players on some of Iowa State's most successful men's basketball teams were subpar performers in the classroom, a new NCAA report shows.

NCAA officials disclosed Wednesday that only 12 percent of Cyclone scholarship basketball players who entered school from the 1996-97 academic year through 1999-2000 received their degrees within six years. Iowa State won conference championships in 2000 and 2001, a conference tournament championship in 2000 and got within one game of the Final Four in 2000.

Marcus Fizer, Jamaal Tinsley, Stevie Johnson and Kantrail Horton were among the top scholarship athletes to enter Iowa State during those years. School records show that of those four - all recruited by former coaches Tim Floyd or Larry Eustachy - Horton and Johnson earned degrees.

The graduation rate for Cyclone basketball players in the previous year was 17 percent.

The ISU figures are contained in a national NCAA report, which shows that 77 percent of 93,000 Division I athletes who entered school during the same period received degrees. The NCAA report also says that the average graduation rates for Division I football and men's basketball programs usually among the lowest of all sports programs - are on the rise.

In football, the graduation rate among Division I schools increased from 64 percent to 65 percent and, for men's basketball teams, it increased from 58 percent to 59 percent, the report shows.

Reports for Iowa, Iowa State, Drake and Northern Iowa football and men's basketball show that only the Bulldog and Panther football programs reported graduation rates above the national average.

Drake's non-scholarship football program had a 79 percent graduation rate. The Panthers' I-AA football program had a 76 percent graduation rate.

Drake's men's basketball program remained at a 50 percent graduation rate while the Panthers basketball team, which at the time was under the direction of coach Sam Weaver, a former Floyd assistant at Iowa State, had a 22 percent graduation rate.

Iowa's football program reported a 64 percent graduation rate compared to 58 percent the previous year. The Hawkeye men's basketball program also reported a higher graduation rate - 53 percent compared to 39 percent the previous year.

Iowa State's football program saw an increase from 51 percent to 52 percent.

Steve Malchow, senior associate athletic director at Iowa State, said the low graduation rate for the men's basketball team was disappointing, but not a surprise.

"There has been a lot of turnover in this program, both coaches and student-athletes in the last decade," Malchow said.

Malchow said that Greg McDermott, ISU's new basketball coach, and the rest of the athletic administration "are committed to substantial improvement."

Graduation rates in Iowa

Graduation rates for men's basketball and football players at Iowa's Division I universities:

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Iowa 53 percent

UNI 52 percent

Drake 50 percent

Iowa State 12 percent

FOOTBALL

Drake 79 percent

UNI 76 percent

Iowa 64 percent

Iowa State 52 percent

Note: Numbers indicate athletes who entered school from '96-97 through '99-2000.