Stone: Eagles' Athletic Achievement Is Significant
When people ask why BC can’t just ransack the transfer portal, academic standards at Boston College are probably the No. 1 reason why.
Now, head coach Jeff Hafley and his staff have made it their mission to dip into the portal hard this offseason, looking for immediate results after last year’s debacle of a season, but that means they’ve also managed to find guys that aren’t only good at football, but are probably going to excel in the classroom as well.
The Eagles may not have had a chance to win anything on the field this year, but on Wednesday, the Boston College football team claimed a share of the 2022 AFCA Academic Achievement Award for a perfect 100 Graduation Success Rate. It’s the fifth award for the program, but the first since 2004. BC football also won this same award in 1992, 1995, 1996 and then in 2004.
The AFCA Academic Achievement Award has been awarded since 1981 and has used the GSR score for the last 11 awards. BC had a score of 100 for the complete graduation of the 2015 freshman class.
Boston College was one of seven schools to pick up the award this year. The other schools that took home the honor were Navy (you would hope this is the case every year for a military academy), Northwestern, Stanford, Toledo and Vanderbilt.
If you’re wondering what the GSR is, it’s based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes and holds its institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. This of course, highlights the reason BC makes such a fuss when trying to bring in the “right” kids out of the portal.
The Academic Achievement Award was established by the College Football Association in 1981. The award recognized the CFA-member FBS institution with the highest graduation rate among members of its football team. The CFA disbanded in 1997, but the AFCA stepped in to present the award and maintain this tradition. Obviously, rewarding student athletes and the programs that put an emphasis on academics is still valuable, even if people look at the NCAA as just about useless at this point, given how corrupt things have been for the last decade or so.
If student athletes are going to bust their asses to be at the top of their game for teammates, these types of awards should always mean something when you can also show you have the ability to balance ridiculous amounts of school work and the daily grind of living the Division 1 lifestyle.
Success on the field is great, but ultimately, all D1 programs are looking to build the best human beings possible for life after college. Many schools have dismissed that and will do whatever it takes to win football games. Some Eagles’ fans may not like the fact BC refuses to do that, but this award is almost as meaningful as any ACC or national championship in the grand scheme of life.