Feb. 20, 2001
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue athletic program has been rated No. 5 overall by The Sporting News, in its second annual survey of all schools participating in both Division I football and men's basketball.
The 115 schools are graded in four categories covering the last 12 months - "Did We Win," "Did We Graduate," "Did We Rock" and "Did We Play Fair." Each school received a letter grade for each category that determined its overall "grade-point average."
Purdue earned a 3.42.
Stanford, Michigan State and North Carolina finished 1-2-3, respectively, each with a 3.50 GPA. Standings were determined based on total points. Notre Dame was fourth with a 3.42.
Rounding out the top 10 were Washington (3.42), Iowa State (3.33), Duke (3.33), North Carolina State (3.25) and Wisconsin (3.25).
Other Big Ten Conference ratings: Penn State (No. 12 - 3.17), Michigan (No. 15 - 3.17), Illinois (No. 18 - 3.08), Indiana (No. 20 - 3.00), Northwestern (No. 22 - 3.00), Ohio State (No. 29 - 2.83), Iowa (No. 34 - 2.67) and Minnesota (No. 60 - 2.17).
"Do We Rock" stands for the support each school's programs received from administration and fans, including overall performance of the full athletic program as measured in the Sears Directors' Cup competition. "Do We Play Fair" evaluates gender equity and the latest four-class graduation rate for all student-athletes and the rate for all student-athletes entering school from 1984 to 1993 who exhausted their athletic eligibility. "Do We Win" incorporates wins and losses during the most recent season, The Sporting News power poll and performance in bowl games and conference tournaments, as well as the NCAA men's basketball tournament. "Do We Graduate" measures the graduation rate of football and men's basketball players at each school as published in the 2000 NCAA Division I Graduation-Rates Report.
Full results are published in the Feb. 26 issue of The Sporting News, on sale this week.