APR Deals Heavy Blow

The Temple football team received a four-scholarship penalty, including three spots in this year’s recruiting class, and will be limited to 16 hours of practice time this fall because of its low APR score, the NCAA announced on Tuesday.

The Owls were penalized because their four-year average (868) fell short of the minimum score (900) required by the NCAA. As a result of the penalties, Coach Al Golden’s squad will be limited to 81 scholarship players this season. In addition, the Owls will be limited to 22 new scholarship players. They signed 26 recruits in February.

But the most damaging penalty may be the reduction in practice time. Division I football teams are limited to 20 hours of “countable activity” per week. That includes on-field practice time, pre-practice meetings, and games. Golden’s team will be limited to 16 hours in the fall.

While the Owls are being penalized for their four-year average, they avoided any penalty from their most recent APR score (898), which they achieved during the 2006-07 academic year. The NCAA penalizes teams with a score below 925 that also lose an ineligible player. Temple didn’t meet the minimum standard, but didn’t lose any ineligible players, thereby avoiding that penalty.

The Temple men’s soccer team and the Temple baseball team were not so fortunate. The men’s soccer team received the maximum penalty – 10 percent of its scholarship limit (0.99 scholarships). The baseball team lost one-sixth of a scholarship.

However, neither team will be affected by the penalty because the Owls don’t allot the maximum number of scholarships in either sport.

No other Temple squad was subject to any penalties.