Cal to tighten academic standards for athletes

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Cal’s new athletic admissions policy will bring sweeping changes to the way its football program recruits student-athletes, making it much harder for the school to admit athletic exceptions after an uproar over recent graduation numbers that showed more than 50 percent of football and men’s basketball players were not getting degrees.

The new policy states that by 2017-18 a minimum of 80 percent of incoming student-athletes for each sport must meet the UC Berkeley standard 3.0 grade-point average for acceptance. The plan, approved by the Academic Senate on Oct. 17, will be implemented over three years, with the number of “special talent” exceptions allowed decreasing every year from a maximum 60 percent in 2015-16 to 20 percent in 2017-18.

The move to make it tougher for athletes to get into Cal comes at a time when the university is under criticism for recent graduation rates that bottomed out at 38 percent for men’s basketball and 44 percent for football. For the past two years, NCAA figures showed Cal football ranked last in the Power Five conferences — ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC — while men’s basketball has ranked last in the Pac-12.

Professor Panos Papadopoulos, chairman of the Academic Senate, said the numbers led the university to rethink its admissions policy for athletes.

“We certainly want to compete,” Papadopoulos said, “and we also want to graduate our students.”

Cal head coach Sonny Dykes celebrates with Matt Cochran (74) after the Bears’ 55-14 win over Sacramento State at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 6, 2014. Cal head coach Sonny Dykes celebrates with Matt Cochran (74) after the Bears’ 55-14 win over Sacramento State at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 6, 2014. Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Cal to tighten academic standards for athletes 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

According to Papadopoulos, 50 to 62 percent of current football players were admitted with GPAs below 3.0. That’s in contrast to head coach Sonny Dykes’ most recent recruiting class, 77 percent of whom had GPAs of 3.0 or higher.

“The last thing in the world any of us would ever want to do is recruit somebody we didn’t think could graduate,” Dykes said. “It makes no sense ethically for us to recruit somebody that we don’t think can get a degree from the university. That’s been our approach from day one.”

Looking outside state lines

Under the new plan, if Cal football brings in a typical recruiting class of 25 student-athletes, only five can have a GPA under 3.0. In order to fulfill those requirements, interim athletic director Michael Williams said Cal will have to recruit on a more national basis. Eighty-seven of the 119 players on the roster are from California.

“The vast majority of our football players are California residents,” Williams said. “We’re going to have to build a pipeline to schools outside of the state of California.”

Fifteen of 23 members of Dykes’ first recruiting class at Cal were from the state. So far, seven of the 11 commitments for 2015 are from California.

Williams pointed to football-crazed Texas as an area where Cal is looking to bolster its presence. Dykes is from Texas and still has strong ties to the region. The Bears are also scheduled to play at the University of Texas next season on Sept. 19.

“That’s where the athletes are, they’re in Texas,” Williams said. “The only way we really are going to be able to compete is to recruit Texas.”

Cal football spent $313,329 on recruiting costs in 2013, according to the athletic department’s statement of revenue and expenses, and Williams said Cal must increase its recruiting budget to accommodate the new standards. Not only will it cost more to find and recruit out-of-state players, but out-of-state tuition is $34,000 compared with $12,200 for in-state tuition, not including additional fees and room and board.

“While we understand that a nationalized recruiting platform will result in higher costs, we’re still in the process of determining exactly what those numbers are going to look like,” said Dan Mogulof, executive director for communication and public affairs.

Seen as 'good changes’

Papadopoulos said these changes have brought discomfort to some at Cal, but most at the university have been supportive of the new standards.

“Some changes will need to happen, and we view those as good changes,” Papadopoulos said. “We don’t see any of them as impossible to make. We expect that the new policy will be implemented without any disruption in the competitiveness of our various teams or any other discomfort among our athletics colleagues.”

Mike Vernon is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mvernon@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @M_Vernon