U.S. News & World Report ranks Villanova’s sports program among nation’s top 20

U.S. News & World Report, in its first annual College Sports rankings, set about measuring all 321 colleges in the NCAA’s Division I. This data was collected via a survey taken during the 2000-2001 academic year. Five categories were explored and included: sanctions, gender equity, win/loss, number of sports offered and graduation rate. Information on graduation rates and sanctions for NCAA infractions were collected from the NCAA’s web site.

The magazine noted, “The Honor Roll recognizes schools that did well across several categories. Schools that had major infractions during the past 10 years were excluded from the Honor Roll.”

According to the report the descriptions of the discerning categories are: Sanctions. This category measures how many “major infractions” a school was assessed by the NCAA  from Feb. 1, 1992 through March 4, 2002, and whether the school was on NCAA probation as of March 4, 2002. Gender equity. This ranking measures a school’s progress in providing athletic opportunities for women, using data from the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA), which collects financial and statistical information on men’s and women’s athletics. Win/loss. Two factors determine the school’s record. One is the overall winning percentage calculated for all men’s and women’s school-to-school contests—such as football, soccer, baseball and basketball. The second is the school’s ranking in NCAA tournaments in sports—such as gymnastics, swimming and diving, and track and field—dominated by multi-school competitions. Number of sports offered. This is measured by the number of men’s and women’s intercollegiate varsity sports in which the school participated. Graduation rate. Two factors determine the rankings for athletic graduation rates. The first is the student-athlete graduation rate over a six-year period, from the NCAA’s web site. The second factor compares that rate for the class entering in 1994 with the overall student body.

Some of Villanova’s peer institutions included in the top 20 are Boston College, Georgetown University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Massachusetts and the University of New Hampshire.

For more information, go to their web site at www.usnews.com