University Park, Pa. -- The outstanding graduation performance by Penn State's student-athletes -- 80 percent according to the recent NCAA graduation rate report, is further accentuated by the efforts of the Nittany Lion football team -- which has the highest graduation rate of any of the nation's public institutions that play Division I-A football.
Compiled by Penn State from the 2003 NCAA Division I Graduation Rates Report, Coach Joe Paterno's team had the fourth-highest graduation rate among all of the nation's 117 Division I-A programs.
Penn State was the only public institution whose football graduation rate ranked in the top 10 among all the I-A programs.
According to the NCAA data, for football players entering the University in 1996-97, Penn State's graduation rate of 86 percent was the program's third-highest figure in the 13 years the report has been issued, and well above the national average of 54 percent.
The only institutions with a graduation rate higher than Penn State were Boston College, Notre Dame and Vanderbilt. Among Big Ten Conference institutions, Northwestern (81 percent) and Indiana (75 percent) followed the Nittany Lions.
Penn State's four-year football graduation rate (for players entering 1993-96) of 76 percent was tied for second-best among the schools ranked in the Sept. 1 USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll. The national average was 51 percent.
For African-American football players entering in 1996-97, the Nittany Lions' posted a superlative graduation figure of 85 percent to easily exceed the 42 percent national figure.
During Paterno's tenure, Penn State has had 22 first team Verizon Academic All-Americans, 14 National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Scholar-Athletes and 18 NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship winners.
Penn State has had 31 Verizon Academic All-Americans all-time, the fourth-highest total among I-A programs. Senior center Joe Iorio was a first-team Verizon Academic All-American and NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient in 2002. Nittany Lions Gino Capone, Dave Costlow and Andrew Guman will be strong candidates for Academic All-America consideration this season.
The Nittany Lions have had 124 Academic All-Big Ten football honorees since starting Conference play in 1993, tops among all Big Ten institutions. During the 2003 spring semester, 32 football players earned a 3.0 grade point average or higher.
The NCAA Graduation Rates Report documented the entering freshman class of 1996-97 who earned degrees within six years. The report is produced annually from data collected by the U.S. Department of Education.