From TCU Media Relations: For the fourth straight year, the TCU football program's high graduation rate has been recognized by the American Football Coaches Association.
TCU was cited by the AFCA for graduating at least 75 percent of its players who entered as freshmen in 2004. The AFCA utilizes the NCAA's Graduation Success Rate (GSR) formula.
All but one of TCU’s 19 seniors this season have already earned their degree or are on track to graduate by May.
The Horned Frogs, one of just three programs (Ohio State, Oregon) to play in a BCS game the last two seasons, have clinched a share of the Mountain West championship and can win the league outright for a third consecutive season with a victory Saturday over UNLV. TCU begins Big 12 play next fall.
A win Saturday would also give TCU its fourth straight 10-win season and eighth in the last 10 years. Prior to head coach Gary Patterson's arrival on campus in 1998, the Horned Frogs had just four 10-win seasons in their history.
TCU has won 36 of its last 39 games and is 48-5 in its last 53 contests. Since 2008, the Horned Frogs’ 45 wins (45-5) rank third nationally.
The GSR is based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes and was developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes. The GSR holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for mid-year enrollees.
Under GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are passed to the receiving institution's GSR cohort. By counting incoming transfer students and mid-year enrollees, the GSR increases the total number of student-athletes tracked for graduation by more than 37 percent.
