Nittany Lions break semester GPA marks, tally 5,000 community service hours and earn third consecutive Top 10 finish in Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup
Video: 2014-15 Season Highlights | VIDEO: Season Review with Sandy Barbour
July 14, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State coaches and student-athletes in 2014-15 produced another outstanding year, featuring school-record accomplishments in the classroom and adding to its impressive list of national and conference championships.
The Nittany Lions earned one NCAA Championship and four conference titles (3 Big Ten) in 2014-15, the first year under the leadership of Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour. A total of 20 Penn State programs competed in their respective NCAA Championships and the football team won the New Era Pinstripe Bowl. Thirty Penn State teams overall participated in post-season competition.
In addition to the team success, Penn State student-athletes delivered three individual NCAA national titles, 11 individual Big Ten crowns, the CoSIDA Academic All-American® of the Year for all sports and one national Player of the Year. A total of 45 Nittany Lions earned All-America honors (not including honorable-mention) and 33 were first-team all-conference selections.
The numerous team and individual accomplishments boosted Penn State to No. 8 in the final Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings. The Nittany Lions earned their third consecutive Top 10 finish for the first time since the initial three years of the program (1993-94 through 1995-96). Penn State posted its 11th top-10 finish in the 22 years of the Directors’ Cup and remains among only nine programs nationwide to have finished in the Top 25 in every final Directors’ Cup ranking.
“Our student-athletes are absolutely incredible,” Barbour said. “It’s important to Penn State and our communities that we be good in everything we do. Having 500 student-athletes with a 3.0 GPA and a 3.11 combined team GPA is spectacular. I have also been so impressed by the number of quality ways that our teams engage with the community and serve as mentors. As good as we are, I think we have a lot of room to improve and grow, that’s what we’re working on, and that makes me really excited about our future.”
Penn State Academic Records in 2014-15
– 500 students-athletes with 3.0 GPA or higher in fall semester;
– 241 student-athletes on Dean’s List for 3.5 GPA or higher in fall semester (minimum 12 credits);
– 70 winter sport student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors.
Led by Coach Russ Rose, the Penn State women’s volleyball team won its seventh NCAA Championship, the most of any program nationally, and its sixth title in the past eight years. The Nittany Lions also captured Big Ten titles in women’s soccer (16th crown), men’s gymnastics and the inaugural women’s lacrosse tournament title and the men’s volleyball team won its 17th consecutive EIVA title.
Trevor Howard
Nine Penn State teams finished in the Top 10 in their respective NCAA Championships, including four squads that recorded Top 4 finishes in women’s volleyball (1st), men’s and women’s fencing (2nd), men’s gymnastics (3rd) and men’s volleyball (semifinals). The field hockey, women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, men’s outdoor track and field and wrestling teams also earned NCAA Top 10 finishes.
The women’s volleyball title gives Penn State 16 NCAA Championships since March 2007, tied with USC for the most in the nation over the past eight years. Florida is third with 15, while Oregon and Stanford are next with 14.
The Nittany Lions have won 74 team national championships all-time, including four in the last two years, and 92 Big Ten crowns since 1992-93. Penn State has captured 19 Big Ten Championships since the 2012 fall semester, the most of any Big Ten institution.
The 2014-15 academic year produced more record-setting classroom and community service achievement by Penn State student-athletes, who produced the two highest 3.0 grade-point average and Dean’s List semester totals all-time during the past year. The Nittany Lions also combined for 5,338 hours of community service during the past year, as logged by the Morgan Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes.
Penn State Athletics Achievements in 2014-15
– NCAA Women’s Volleyball Champions;
– Big Ten Champions: women’s soccer, men’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse;
– EIVA men’s volleyball champions;
– 3 individual NCAA champions;
– 11 individual Big Ten champions;
– 45 All-Americans;
– 33 first-team all-conference selections
– 5,338 community service hours
During the 2014 fall semester, a school record 500 of the approximately 800 Nittany Lion student-athletes earned at least a 3.0 GPA, crushing the previous high of 468 in the 2013 fall semester. Among the 500 high achievers, a record 241 garnered Dean’s List honors by posting a GPA of 3.50 or higher, while passing a minimum of 12 credits. The previous Dean’s List mark was 211 in the 2012 fall semester.
During the most recent semester, a school spring semester record 474 Penn State student-athletes earned a 3.0 GPA; 62 percent of all student-athletes enrolled during the spring. Among the 474 high achievers, a spring semester record 221 earned Dean’s List honors with a 3.5 GPA. The combined average GPA was 3.11 among Penn State’s 31 varsity sports during the spring semester. The 474 and 221 totals, respectively, rank No. 2 overall in a semester, topped only by last fall’s academic achievements.
Senior wrestler Matt Brown was selected the 2014-15 CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for all sports, earning his second Academic All-America honor. Laura Gebhart (field hockey) also earned first-team CoSIDA Academic All-America At-Large honors and Robby Creese (men’s track and field) was a third-team honoree. Penn State’s 189 all-time CoSIDA Academic All-America® honorees rank No. 3 among NCAA Division I institutions.
Penn State student-athletes earned an NCAA Graduation Success Rate of 89 percent compared to the 82 percent average for all Division I institutions. The 89 percent figure was second highest, to Northwestern, among all Big Ten institutions.
Seven Penn State teams received NCAA Public Recognition Awards for earning high scores in the most recent Academic Progress Rate (APR) compilation. Six of the seven squads earned perfect multi-year APR scores of 1,000 through 2013-14: men’s cross country, women’s cross country, field hockey, women’s golf, women’s hockey and men’s tennis.
A total of 277 Penn State student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten selections, the third-highest total in school annals. The top three totals have all occurred in the past three academic years. The 70 honorees for the winter sports were a school record, while the 135 spring and at-large honorees were just one off the school standard. Penn State has earned a total of 5,041 Academic All-Big Ten honorees during its 22 years of full membership in the conference.
A listing of Penn State’s primary 2014-15 academic and athletic accomplishments are linked at the top of the story.
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