Today the NCAA released the academic progress report for all D1 institutions. These reports known as APR's are used to track the academic work that student athletes have done over the past year. Each score over the past four years is used to produce an average or as the NCAA calls it the Multi-Year Rate. If the scores come in to low then it can result in a loss of scholarships or post season opportunities.
Overall the Mountain West had a successful year and has had very few academic issues historically. San Diego State and UNLV had troubles in football academics during the mid 2000's and lost some scholarships. While Wyoming dealt with scholarship losses at the end of the McClain era. This year there was one penalty that levied to San Diego State Baseball who will lose 1.05 scholarships even though they improved their Mulit-Year Rate to 922 from 918.
The mark that you want to be above is 925, falling below that mark could result in penalties being handed out by the NCAA. The highest possible score is 1000. I went ahead and posted all of the current Mountain teams as well as the future schools. This way you can get a handle on how the new schools will fit in on the academic side. What I've posted is the Multi-Year Rate which again covers the average of the last four years.
First off we start with the football rankings of current Mountain West Members.
| School | Multi-Year Rate |
| U.S. Air Force Academy | 978 |
| Texas Christian University | 972 |
| University of Utah | 956 |
| Colorado State University | 948 |
| University of New Mexico | 947 |
| University of Nevada, Las Vegas | 947 |
| San Diego State University | 934 |
| University of Wyoming | 933 |
| Brigham Young University | 929 |
All of the Mountain West schools passed fairly easily. Interesting to see BYU at the bottom of the board. Wyoming was second to the bottom but did have a five point increase over the last years score of 928. Not surprising to see the Air Force Academy dominate once again.
How will the new schools fit in? Let's take a look.
| School | Multi-Year Rate |
| Boise State | 981 |
| University of Hawaii, Mano | 959 |
| Cal State University, Fresno | 952 |
| University of Nevada | 943 |
So all four new schools will fit in just fine academically within the Mountain West. Very impressive that Boise State actually came in higher than the Air For Academy. Wolfpack fans should be pleased that their school is listed at University of Nevada and not University of Nevada, Reno by the NCAA.
The other sport we will look at for APR is men's basketball for the Mountain West and it's future members.
| School | Multi-Year Rate |
| Brigham Young University | 991 |
| University of Utah | 990 |
| U.S. Air Force Academy | 963 |
| University of Nevada, Las Vegas | 961 |
| Texas Christian University | 943 |
| San Diego State University | 938 |
| University of New Mexico | 932 |
| Colorado State University | 914 |
| University of Wyoming | 905 |
The 905 score for Wyoming is well below the 925 but the Cowboys have had great progress over the last four years. In 2006-07 the MYR for Wyoming hit 864 and has increased steadily to 884, 892 and now 905. There is no danger of Wyoming losing scholarships since it's individual score for 2009-10 came in at a robust 979. Colorado State suffered a loss of scholarships a year ago but have boosted their MYR significantly. Last year the Rams had a score of just 859.
Now let's look at the three new schools that are joining the Mountain West.
| School | Multi-Year Rate |
| Boise State University | 979 |
| Cal State University, Fresno | 923 |
| University of Nevada | 919 |
Again impressed by the academic showing by Boise State. Fresno State lands at a 923 but the Bulldogs have improved greatly over the last few years. Last year they were even higher at 928 but back in 2004-05 they ended up with a downright awful 725. May need to watch Nevada here as their averaged has dropped the last three years. It started at 940, went to 938 and took a big dive down to 919.