SPORTS

Hill pleased with academics

By Steve Weakland
Athletic Media Relations

For a coach more recognized for his Fu-Manchu mustache, Fresno State's Pat Hill is becoming famous for keeping his word.

In December 1996, Hill took over a Fresno State football program that was struggling. Coming off three consecutive losing seasons, the Bulldogs were not only in need of some wins but their academic reputation needed to be repaired. During his inaugural news conference, Hill carried a recently published USA Today article that showed the Fresno State football team had the nation's worst graduation rate.

The straight-shooting Hill promised two things. He wanted to restore Fresno State to an elite level on the football field and he would demand similar success of his student-athletes in the classroom.

After eight seasons, he has accomplished both.

On the field, the Bulldogs have become one of the nation’s elite programs. With six consecutive bowl game appearances, a final 2004 Top 25 national ranking and 38 wins over the last four seasons, Fresno State’s football success is unparalleled in school history. The Bulldogs’ bowl streak is the longest among West Coast teams and their win total ranks among the nation's best.

While the football team’s success had garnered the lion's share of the media attention, Hill has quietly solidified the academic foundation of the program. Over the last eight years, Fresno State’s graduation rate has doubled and the program has produced 65 Academic All-WAC football players.

But the figure that jumps out the most when looking at Fresno State’s academic resurgence is the recent Academic Progress Rate (APR) report card released by the NCAA. In that report, the Bulldogs APR of 939 was 18 points higher than the national average (921). It also ranked best among the 2005 WAC institutions and was the fourth-best of NCAA Division I-A football programs in the Western United States. In fact, only one Pac-10 institution, Stanford, had a higher APR than Fresno State.

Fresno State’s APR also compared favorably among the other 2004 Top 25 programs. The Bulldogs’ APR was the 12th-best among teams that finished ranked in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll, and higher than several notable programs, including national champion USC (910), Cal (924), Texas (934), Georgia (930), LSU (923) and Oklahoma (929).

“The APR is the best, most fair way to calculate a program’s academic status,” Hill said. “It took eight years before the graduation rate of my first recruiting class was recognized. That was a significant flaw in the old system. A coach, or the current program, was always judged by what happened prior to the coach being there. This is not as outdated. It’s more current and more fair and show exactly where the program currently stands.”

This success did not happen overnight. Upon getting the Fresno State job in 1996, Hill’s first hire was John Baxter as Associate Head Coach. Baxter brought with him a personalized program called “Academic Gameplan” that he patented.  At the time the program was in its infancy, but today is used by more than 120 high school and colleges. It is also used by countless parents to assist their child succeed in their academic pursuits.

“It has taken a long time and a lot of hard work to get our program to where we want it,” said Hill. “We want well-rounded people in our program. We want players who play hard and compete at the highest level. That’s why we play the (tough) schedule we do.

“We also expect that same commitment from the players in the classroom. We expect them to compete at a high level academically as well. When you get competitors who want to compete and can channel that competitive energy and spirit toward their academic studies, it's a positive experience. We have worked very hard to achieve what we have. Our players and coaches deserve a lot of credit for getting us to such a high level both athletically and academically. We are not done. We want to keep building and keep growing.”

Hill and Baxter’s commitment to the Academic Gameplan has seen the Bulldog academic reputation grow. Fresno State’s team grade point average rose to a 2.87 and last year 42 percent of the team (43 of 103 student-athletes) had a 3.0 GPA or better. Prior to Hill's arrival, Fresno State had produced only nine Academic All-WAC players, never more than two in a season. Under Hill, the Bulldogs have averaged more than eight per year and in 2002 set a record with 12 Academic All-WAC selections. To become Academic All-WAC, a student-athlete must carry a 3.2 GPA and be a significant contributor on the squad.

Some people have taken notice.

“Coach Baxter’s relationship with his players has been highly unique,” said Kevin White, Director of Athletics at Notre Dame. “Wherein the results realized have been absolutely remarkable.”

Fresno State President John D. Welty said Coach Hill’s ability to inspire both academic and athletic achievement among his student athletes is a model for the campus. 

“Coach Hill’s actions to support academic excellence among the football team have produced this excellent result,” Welty said. “There is no stronger advocate to ensure that student-athletes achieve both on the field and in the classroom. He reinforces this in all of his contacts with players, parents, fans and his coaching staff.”

Each coach works with the student-athletes at 7 a.m. meetings. These meetings help the players continue their progress toward reaching a degree and create responsibility and accountability for their academic demands. In many cases, Bulldog football players have achieved unprecedented academic accomplishments. Some have higher college GPAs than they had in high school.

“We are happy with the success we’ve had,” said Baxter. “As I've always said, ‘This is college football, not football college.’ We are working to ensure that every Bulldog has the opportunity to earn their degree and achieve academic success at an equally high level as we play on the football field.”

Other notable academic accomplishments include the following:

• In 1999, Payton Williams became the first Bulldog to earn Academic All-America status. He went on to a career in the NFL after being accepted to the USC Law School.
• Former Bulldog team captain Juan Bautista, an Academic All-WAC performer, was accepted to the Columbia University Medical School.
• Former Academic and All-WAC performer Vernon Fox was one of 18 student-athletes honored by the National Football Foundation as an outstanding scholar-athlete. Fox, who is pursuing a master's degree in victimology, is currently playing for the Detroit Lions.
• In 2004, defensive lineman Garrett McIntyre was one of four players to be selected to the All-WAC first-team and Academic All-WAC team.

Hill was instrumental in the construction of the Ricchuti Academic Center, a new facility designed to assist the academic endeavors for all Bulldog student-athletes. The new center features tutorial labs, a spacious computer lab, teaching rooms and offices for the academic services support personnel. It opened in January 2005 and is expected to allow Fresno State to continue to attract high-quality student-athletes, creating an environment for learning and academic achievement.

Despite this amazing transformation, the USA Today newspaper clipping from 1996 sits under glass on Hill’s desk as a constant reminder of where Fresno State used to be on the academic rung of college football programs. Hill soon hopes to see such national attention paid to Fresno State’s current academic status.

“We have beaten California, Washington and UCLA over the last couple of years,” Hill said. “While those three wins were significant for our football program, I want people to understand we not only beat them on the field but our APR proves we are also beating them academically. That’s very satisfying. We have worked very hard to improve our academic standards and our APR will continue to show that.”

2004 Final ESPN/USA TODAY Coaches’ Poll

Rated by NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) Score

NCAA Academic Progress Rate Score

Of Division I-A Football Programs in the West

(Pac-10, WAC and MWC)