Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Raiders stay strong in classroom despite pandemic
5/29/2020 12:00:00 PM | General, BRAA
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Despite fighting the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Middle Tennessee's student-athletes made the university proud with their work in the classroom during the 2020 spring semester.
University President Sidney McPhee announced in mid-March the school would switch to remote learning when students returned from spring break. That meant students and professors had to switch completely to online learning for the rest of the semester.
Even though they had to adjust to life without sports and away from campus, the Blue Raiders responded by excelling at remote learning, finishing the spring semester with an overall department GPA of 3.407 and the school year with a 3.216. Ten of MT's 15 teams finished the semester with GPAs better than 3.5, and all but one had above a 3.2.
"I think we did pretty well through the spring semester having all of our student-athletes working from home," Todd Wyant, director of the MTSU Student-Athlete Enhancement Center, said. "From Dr. McPhee and Dr. Sells to Chris Massaro, our staff, our coaches and our student-athletes, they just bought in, and our faculty were huge."
Fresh off winning an award for team GPA at the Raiders' Choice Awards, the men's tennis team paced the athletic department with a 3.94 semester GPA, finishing the school year with a 3.85. Women's golf (3.908), men's golf (3.788), volleyball (3.735), women's tennis (3.717) and soccer (3.712) were each over 3.7 for the semester, as well.
The student-athletes take quite a bit of pride in their performance in the classroom, especially this semester.
"Learning this semester with all remote classes was very challenging," senior soccer player Peyton DePriest, an exercise science major with a 3.9 GPA, said. "We all had to adapt to the situation in ways that we never thought would happen … with everything going on, I'm so proud that our team found a way around it and focused our attention and efforts on making it work in the classroom, and in the end, it definitely paid off."
The fantastic showing for the 2020 spring semester and school year overall comes on the heels of a very good ranking for MT in the NCAA's multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR), which is based on a multi-year rate that averages scores from the 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic years.
Each of Middle Tennessee's teams earned a multi-year APR score of over 950 (out of 1,000), with men's cross country, softball, women's golf and women's tennis posting a perfect 1,000, the second straight year the Blue Raiders had four teams reach a perfect grade.
In the 2018-19 single-year APR, four teams boasted perfect marks of 1,000 — men's tennis, women's golf, softball and women's tennis. The Blue Raiders football team also finished with a 994 single-year APR, highest in Conference USA, and their multi-year APR of 985 is tied for 18th in the country.
"I think everyone on the team takes a lot of pride in that," Crews Holt, a redshirt senior placekicker for the Raiders football team, said. "Coach Stockstill always says football is going to take you so far and to use MT, don't let MT use you, and we all take a lot of pride in putting academics first.
"This semester was a new normal for everybody, but we got it done. It shows in our GPA."
Keeping a strong presence in the classroom was made even more difficult for student-athletes across the country this year. Wyant said he's proud of the way the Student Success Center, faculty and students worked together to utilize resources and stay successful during the pandemic.
"It was a team effort from the top down to make sure the student-athletes had everything they needed … and making sure we had the resources to get those who were struggling back on track," he said. "The feedback from faculty is huge so we know where each student is at academically … and our staff does an outstanding job."
University President Sidney McPhee announced in mid-March the school would switch to remote learning when students returned from spring break. That meant students and professors had to switch completely to online learning for the rest of the semester.
Even though they had to adjust to life without sports and away from campus, the Blue Raiders responded by excelling at remote learning, finishing the spring semester with an overall department GPA of 3.407 and the school year with a 3.216. Ten of MT's 15 teams finished the semester with GPAs better than 3.5, and all but one had above a 3.2.
"I think we did pretty well through the spring semester having all of our student-athletes working from home," Todd Wyant, director of the MTSU Student-Athlete Enhancement Center, said. "From Dr. McPhee and Dr. Sells to Chris Massaro, our staff, our coaches and our student-athletes, they just bought in, and our faculty were huge."
Fresh off winning an award for team GPA at the Raiders' Choice Awards, the men's tennis team paced the athletic department with a 3.94 semester GPA, finishing the school year with a 3.85. Women's golf (3.908), men's golf (3.788), volleyball (3.735), women's tennis (3.717) and soccer (3.712) were each over 3.7 for the semester, as well.
The student-athletes take quite a bit of pride in their performance in the classroom, especially this semester.
"Learning this semester with all remote classes was very challenging," senior soccer player Peyton DePriest, an exercise science major with a 3.9 GPA, said. "We all had to adapt to the situation in ways that we never thought would happen … with everything going on, I'm so proud that our team found a way around it and focused our attention and efforts on making it work in the classroom, and in the end, it definitely paid off."
The fantastic showing for the 2020 spring semester and school year overall comes on the heels of a very good ranking for MT in the NCAA's multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR), which is based on a multi-year rate that averages scores from the 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic years.
Each of Middle Tennessee's teams earned a multi-year APR score of over 950 (out of 1,000), with men's cross country, softball, women's golf and women's tennis posting a perfect 1,000, the second straight year the Blue Raiders had four teams reach a perfect grade.
In the 2018-19 single-year APR, four teams boasted perfect marks of 1,000 — men's tennis, women's golf, softball and women's tennis. The Blue Raiders football team also finished with a 994 single-year APR, highest in Conference USA, and their multi-year APR of 985 is tied for 18th in the country.
"I think everyone on the team takes a lot of pride in that," Crews Holt, a redshirt senior placekicker for the Raiders football team, said. "Coach Stockstill always says football is going to take you so far and to use MT, don't let MT use you, and we all take a lot of pride in putting academics first.
"This semester was a new normal for everybody, but we got it done. It shows in our GPA."
Keeping a strong presence in the classroom was made even more difficult for student-athletes across the country this year. Wyant said he's proud of the way the Student Success Center, faculty and students worked together to utilize resources and stay successful during the pandemic.
"It was a team effort from the top down to make sure the student-athletes had everything they needed … and making sure we had the resources to get those who were struggling back on track," he said. "The feedback from faculty is huge so we know where each student is at academically … and our staff does an outstanding job."
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