University of Louisville’s football success, under head coach Bobby Petrino, extends beyond the gridiron.
The Cardinals earned the program’s first APR Public Recognition Award in program history on Wednesday for ranking in the top 10 percent with a score of 988 for the multi-year APR, a period from 2012-16. The APR score measures academic eligibility, retention, and graduation for student-athletes.
The football team narrowly missed becoming the sixth program at Louisville to post a perfect score of 1000, achieved by the men’s and women’s basketball programs, the men’s and women’s golf teams, and the men’s tennis squad.
“To have our program in the top 10 percent in the country in APR scores says a lot about the character of the student-athletes and the tremendous amount of work our players put in not only on the football field but in the classroom,” Petrino said. “I’m also thankful for the faculty and academic staff at Louisville for putting our players in a position to succeed academically and emphasizing the importance of getting a degree. We take great pride in this achievement and hope to build on these standards.”
The four-year stretch represented in this year’s APR scores coincides with arguably the most successful stretch of on-the-field results in the history of Louisville football, which has played in four-consecutive bowl games since the 2012 season and won a total of 40 games over that span, including the 2012 Sugar Bowl over third-ranked Florida.
The program saw 41 student-athletes earn AD Honor Roll status during the fall of 2015, with an additional 34 achieving the accolade in the spring of 2016.
Beyond attaining GPA success, the Cardinals saw 25 student-athletes earn their diplomas from the fall of 2015 through the spring of 2016. Seventeen of those graduates participated in the Franklin Mortgage Music City Bowl, including Aaron Epps, who earned his master’s degree that academic year. Five of the graduates from the spring of 2016 returned to UofL and competed for the Cardinals on the gridiron in the fall of 2016.
Ira Green
Asst. Sports Information Director