Women's wrestling

UC Davis has completed just about all of the Title IX litigation connected to the cutting of four women from the wrestling program back in the 2000-01 academic year. But there's another side of the story. Former Aggie wrestling coach Michael Burch, who took $725K off the university in a settlement after alleging his firing was retaliation for supporting the women, told me once in an interview that women's wrestling would soon be a growth sport. In fact, he said, UCD was missing an opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Now he's telling the same thing to The New York Times, which has a story today on the growth of women's wrestling at small colleges. Can bigger programs be far behind?

UC Davis is pretty much making the grade

The latest Academic Progress Rate data is out, and UC Davis finds itself in pretty good standing with NCAA's grade police. Only two of the school's 26 sports fall below the cutoff point of 925, and even in that news, there's a fairly positive trend. Wrestling, which posted 826 in the initial release of the data two years ago, is up to 914. That said, wrestling did lose the equivalent of one scholarship. Men's swimming is at 923, which is not far enough below the line to subject the team to penalties from the NCAA.

Men's Soccer and softball, which both fell below the cutoff point last year saw marked improvements. The men's soccer team went from 894 to 935. Softball went from 841 to 926. The data is for the 2006-07 academic year.

What do these numbers mean? Every scholarship athlete can earn up to two points per semester/quarter, one for remaining eligible and one for remaining enrolled in school. The number of points earned is then divided by the maximum number of points. That quotient is then multiplied by 1000 to eliminate decimal points. According to the NCAA, the number 925 projects to a 60 percent graduation rate. Continuous offenders face the loss of scholarships and eventually will miss out on postseason events.

Making the grade

Lost in the e-mail yesterday was this note from the NCAA.

UC Davis' men's water polo, women's soccer and women's tennis teams were publicly recognized for their academic performance. Those programs were among the 712 Division I teams that scored above 965 in the Academic Progress Rate. The APR is the way the NCAA measures academic progress, awarding individual teams points for athletes that stay eligible and enrolled in school. The NCAA calls 925 (which translates to 92.5 percent of all points and a 60 percent graduation rate) an acceptable score. Teams that fall below the mark face the loss of scholarships and other sanctions.

The NCAA will release its full report May 6.

Title IX at UC Davis

We'll be chiming in with our report on the latest UC Davis Title IX lawsuit when the paper hits the street this afternoon.

It's the third lawsuit in six years, if you're keeping count. That seems like an awfully high number for a campus that often mentions its commitment to gender equity almost every chance it gets. I tend to think UCD is an inviting target for suits because it has expressed, in writing, a commitment to reach proportionality without cutting sports. Both the plaintiffs' attorney and a university spokesperson disagreed when I broached this theory on Wednesday, but I'd be curious to hear what other people have to say.

Don't be surprised if you hear a lot about Title IX in the coming months. Its advocates appear ready to push back against the losses they feel have been inflicted upon them by the Bush Administration. The biggest defeat was when, in 2005, the Department of Education allowed institutions to use e-mail surveys to measure interest. In the age of spam, those supporters argued, that's a lousy way to measure interest.

As currently constituted, the plaintiffs in this latest case at UCD are seeking fairly modest damages. Their lawyer says they are more interested in compelling the university to make a plan to reach proportionality. That's good news for the campus, given the price tags we're starting to see attached to the litigation. Last month a former Fresno State volleyball coach won a $5.85M verdict against school related to her firing. And earlier in the year former UCD wrestling coach Michael Burch settled his case, which alleged retaliation for the coach's outspoken support for four women cut from the wrestling team, for $725,000.

So, stay tuned.