Rutgers Earns Round of Big East Academic Awards

Rutgers University may be leaving for the Big 10, but the program has earned a final group of honors from the Big East before its departure.

The conference now known as the America Athletic Conference recognized the Scarlet Knights’ football, field hockey and softball teams with the 2012-13 Big East Team Excellence Award for achieving the highest collective grade point average (GPA) in their sport on Wednesday.

The conference selected the teams based on the 2012-13 grade point average (GPA) of its each of its individual players. This was the final contest of the championship segment in each sport sponsored by the conference.

Rutgers football earned the honor for the second year in a row, according to University officials. It also tied for 11th place nationally in the Academic Progress Rate (APR), according to the latest numbers released by the NCAA this year.

It is the only state university to be ranked in the top 10 percent nationally in the APR for the sixth consecutive year, and the only program to do so while winning four bowl games.

In February, Rutgers placed 28 football players on the Big East all-Academic Football Team.

Additionally, 250 student athletes from across the Rutgers sports spectrum were named to the 2012-13 Big East all-Academic Team. Nominations for this honor were submitted by all 15 Big East member institutions, and approved by the Big East Academic Affairs Committee.

To earn this honor, a student must have competed in a Big East-sponsored sport, achieved a minimum 3.0 GPA for the preceding academic year and completed at least two consecutive semesters or three straight quarters of academic work with 18 semester or 27 quarter credits, excluding remedial courses.

There were 3,325 honorees across all Big East institutions for the 2012-13 academic year.

The complete list of Rutgers honorees can be found here.

While Rutgers will compete for one more year in its current conference, next year’s round of academic recognitions will be administered by the American Athletic Conference. Seven catholic schools seceded from the rest of the schools last year, and brought the Big East brand name with them.

The remaining members chose to continue under a new name, the American Athletic Conference.

Rutgers joins the Big 10 on July 1, 2014.