Athletics:Student-Athletes Continue To Thrive In Latest Ragin’ Cajuns Academic Report

Nine teams record team GPA of 3.0 or above

LAFAYETTE – With nearly 53 percent of all student-athletes posting a 3.0 or above grade point average during the spring 2016 semester, Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns student-athletes combined to post a GPA of 2.940 marking the eighth straight semester in recording a 2.9 or above in an announcement on Tuesday.
 
Twenty-nine student-athletes earned a 4.0 GPA during the spring semester, with 38 student-athletes earned degrees and 181 student-athletes named to the 2015-16 Sun Belt Conference Honor Roll and Sun Belt Conference Commissioner’s List.
 
"Our student-athletes continue to do an incredible job, both in competition and in the classroom," Director of Athletics Scott Farmer said. "Our student-athletes put in a considerable amount of time and effort in order to not only reach their goals of competing at the highest level athletically, but to achieve their goals of receiving a quality education.
 
"With the tremendous support and encouragement that our student-athletes receive from the Student Athlete Academic Center, our coaches, athletic staff and members of the University community, they are able to accomplish great things academically."
 
Nine teams recorded a GPA of 3.0 or higher, including women’s tennis (3.592) and men’s tennis (3.571), which posted the highest team GPAs in school history. Women’s cross country (3.390), softball (3.263), women’s soccer (3.260), men’s cross country (3.104), volleyball (3.068), women’s track and field (3.050) and baseball (3.042) all posted team GPAs of 3.0 or above with men’s track and field (2.968) posting its highest team GPA in school history.
 
"The mission of the athletics department is to see our student-athletes graduate and working toward this goal is the focal point of everything that we do. In conjunction with support from our head coaches, our academic support staff works tirelessly to provide our student-athletes with quality academic support services that aid in accomplishing academic success," Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance and Academics Dr. Jessica Leger said. "When over 50 percent of our student-athlete population earns a 3.0 GPA or higher, it becomes evident that our student-athletes prioritize and value academics.
 
"What makes our department unique is that we have a policy that each head coach is directly responsible for overseeing the academic progress of each student-athlete involved in the program.  This philosophy is a primary contributor the academic achievements of our student-athletes.  Our coaches primarily focus on competition and practice, but they also understand the importance of academic and impress high expectations on their teams."
 
Seven teams – women’s tennis (13), men’s tennis (12), volleyball (12), women’s cross country (8), baseball (7), soccer (7) and softball (6) have each recorded a team GPA of 3.0 or higher for six or more consecutive semesters.