The NCAA’s response to Kansas University’s appeal regarding Academic Progress Rate scores in baseball and football was a mixed bag for the Jayhawks.

While the NCAA approved KU’s appeal regarding football, it wasn’t so forgiving of the Jayhawks’ baseball appeal.

As a result, KU will not lose any football scholarships, but the KU baseball program will forfeit .24 of a scholarship. Because coach Ritch Price already has offered the full allotment of scholarships available for the 2006-07 academic year, the penalty will defer until the 2007-08 academic year.

“We are disappointed in the decision regarding baseball,” Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins said, “because we have shown tremendous improvement in the last couple of years.”

APR is a calculation meant to measure the success of student-athletes in the classroom and the progress they make toward graduation. A team is subject to scholarship penalties if its APR is less than 925 and if underclassmen leave their institution in poor academic standing. The NCAA has emphasized it expects KU’s baseball and football teams to raise their respective APR scores to the 925 mark.

The baseball team’s APR rose from 848 in 2003-04 to 939 in 2004-05, for a two-year rate of 887. Last semester the baseball team compiled a 2.96 grade-point average, an all-time high for the sport at Kansas. Nine KU baseball players earned Academic All-Big 12 honors last season.

The Kansas football team’s APR rose from 899 in 2003-04 to 909 in 2004-05, and last fall 10 football players received Academic All-Big 12 honors. Last semester a KU-record 12 teams posted GPA’s of 3.0 or better.

“We are determined,” Perkins said, “to continue to improve to the point where all our programs consistently shine as examples for programs around the country.”