Allen Fieldhouse, KU campus

The Kansas University athletic department turned in its best showing to date in its annual student-athlete graduation-rate report, recording a graduation success rate of 74 percent, four points higher than last year’s total.

The GSR, which takes into account transfers into the school but excludes outgoing transfers as long as they leave in good academic standing, is based on a four-year average of student-athletes who arrived at the university in the fall of ’99, ’00, ’01 and ’02.

According to the report, the KU men’s basketball team graduated 73 percent of its athletes over the four-year period — an all-time high — while women’s basketball team graduated 44 percent.

The reason for the dip in GSR for the women’s basketball team was the result of a coaching change during that period, said KU associate athletic director in charge of student-athlete support services Paul Buskirk, who added that next year’s information — which will include current coach Bonnie Henrickson’s first recruiting class — will be much better.

The football team, meanwhile, graduated 58 percent of its players over that four-year period. The freshman class of ’02-03, KU coach Mangino’s first recruiting class, graduated at a 71 percent rate, up from 44 percent for the previous year.

“We’re showing trends that continue to rise, and that’s a testament to the players and coaches and (athletic director Lew) Perkins’ support,” Buskirk said.

The overall student-athlete graduation rate in the report — which is different from the graduation success rate in that it does not account for transfers in or out of the school — was 72 percent, also an all-time high, compared to 60 percent for non-student-athletes.

Monday’s report acts as a kind of precursor to April’s release of the Academic Progress Rate by the NCAA. Unlike the school’s graduation rates released Monday, the APR examines academic performance from just one year and comes with penalties if requirements are not met.

Buskirk said Monday, however, that Kansas will face no APR-related penalties this year.