Alabama A&M has been banned from the postseason in all sports for the 2016-17 school year and the athletic department placed on probation for one year, the school announced today.



The punishments came after an NCAA review of the Huntsville university's Academic Performance Program data, the school said in a press release. The NCAA determined that documentation submitted by the school was insufficient to verify the Academic Performance Rate and academic eligibility of student-athletes for the 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years.

Alabama A&M's probation period began Jan. 18.

The NCAA implemented APRs in 2003. As described on the NCAA website, it "holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete for each academic term."

Teams must have a 930 four-year average APR to take part in NCAA championships. Only two of Alabama A&M's 16 athletic programs - softball and men's golf - scored lower than 930 for the most recent results released by the NCAA (the period that ended with the 2013-14 school year).



The NCAA is providing Alabama A&M with additional time to resubmit the necessary documentation, the release said.

"This is not a sanction. The post-season ban potentially can be lifted prior to the 2016-17 fall sports championships if the university corrects and re-submits the necessary data by August 15, 2016," Bryan Hicks, Alabama A&M Director of Athletics, said in the release. "We are collaboratively working with the NCAA Division I Committee on Academics Subcommittee on Data, the Compliance Group and university administration to ensure each concern and question is fully addressed. We have also engaged a company with expertise in compliance certification, one that has assisted other SWAC institutions in a similar manner."