Monthly Archives: June 2012
MEAC’s NC A&T and Hampton banned from football playoffs
Hampton University’s playoff drought will last another year, as it has been banned from postseason play in 2012.
The start of football season is a little over two months away, but three HBCU teams already know they won’t be participating in the 2012 postseason. Hampton, North Carolina A&T and Texas Southern have all been declared ineligible for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs as a result of poor marks on the Academic Progress Rate requirements.
Hampton was levied with a Level One penalty, which will result in the loss of four hours of practice time per week. By contrast, A&T was hit with Level Three penalties which could involve restrictions on financial aid and recruiting as well as a multi-year post season ban, in addition to the aforementioned practice sanctions.
The APR is calculated yearly based off of eligibility and retention of student athletes over a four-year period.
This is a blow for both programs who are looking to climb their way back to the top of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Hampton finished fifth in the conference last year (7-4 overall, 5-3 MEAC) and was hoping to make a run at the post season for the first time since winning the MEAC in 2006. A&T finished eighth in the eleven team conference (5-6, 4-4) and has not captured the conference crown since 2003. For the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s Texas Southern, the penalty comes as a side-effect of the team’s first-ever SWAC Title in 2012.
Obviously, all athletic departments are promising improvements. Hampton President William Harvey, who coincidentally is on the NCAA’s Board of Directors, expressed confidence in his school’s ability to rise to the challenge.
“We need to make sure that Hampton’s football program will meet the NCAA academic standards in a very short period of time, just as all of our other men’s and women’s athletic programs already do.
“We’re not satisfied with where we are,” said A&T Athletic Director Earl Hilton. “The lost hours will be used to make sure we’re progressing academically. Our goal is to play postseason football routinely, and to see the members of those championship teams receive undergraduate and graduate degrees.”
