Football’s Record GPA Takes Center Stage

New Mexico Game Notes | Liberty Game Notes
 

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As University of New Mexico head coach looked at the numbers on display in front of him, he wanted to shout them out from the top of his lungs.  We aren’t talking about 55 points scored, or Tevaka Tuioti’s 414 yards of total offense, or four more 40-yard plays.  The numbers he wanted to should about were much different
 
2.97 … 3.07 … 27 … 14. 
 
Those numbers, 2.97 (UNM’s Spring 2019 grade point average for the football team), 3.07 (UNM’s Summer 2019 grade point average for the football team), 27 (the number of Mountain West academic all-conference selections), and 14 (the number of Mountain West Scholar-Athletes) were the key points of Bob Davie’s Tuesday afternoon media luncheon.  They are numbers he is tremendously proud of, and with UNM Student Success Managers Brian Ferguson, Eden Mahina and Andrea Pierson flanking him to the left, Davie indeed shouted it out, because the numbers and achievements are certain substantial.
 
“55-52 against New Mexico State is big.  Going 6-2 against them is big.  (2.97) is huge.  This is huge.”
 
The 2.97 GPA beat out the Spring 2003 GPA for the team of 2.96 for the best overall GPA in the program’s history, going back as far as records have been kept.  That 2.97 kept up a solid run of academic success, as three of the top four GPAs in the history of the program have come in the last three semesters.  The football team is the only Lobo program that can claim that fact.
 
Getting a 2.97 wasn’t an easy goal to achieve, and it just missed the first 3.00 in school history for the program.  Make no mistake however, beating out the Spring 2003 GPA was a clear-cut goal.
 
“The one thing we have been chasing, and it has been tremendously motivating for our team, is to have the highest semester (GPA) in the history of the program,” said Davie.  “We’ve had the highest Fall, but what’s been elusive is that highest-ever GPA.”
 
“I want to celebrate this,” said Davie.  “It needs to be celebrated.  And I’m the last one that should say it because I do the least.  All I do is pound the message and how important it is.”
 

While true Coach Davie isn’t at study hall helping kids with a quadratic equation at 9 p.m. at night, he is the CEO, and he sets the standard.  That standard is for excellence in academics, and everyone involved has heeded the call, from his coaching staff, to the student success team, to UNM’s faculty.  Most of all, he passed on the credit to the student-athletes, who have hit the books hard while also leading UNM to a 2-1 record this season through the first three games.
 
Andrea Pierson, one of the Student Success Managers for football said that it’s an all-in mentality that has worked for the program. “It’s a constant team, it’s a village that we use to make it possible for these kids to be successful here.”  She added, “We have academic advisors, we have tutors, we work with people on main campus, and major advisors that are all invested in this and trying to make sure that these kids get the opportunities to achieve whatever it is they want.”
 
That Spring 2.97 GPA paired up with the 2.83 GPA from the Fall of 2018, which was the best in-season GPA in the history of the program.  Combined, UNM had a 2.90 GPA for the 2018-19 Academic Year, which was the best single academic year GPA as well.

When you combine academics and athletics, the numbers again back up the successes.  For the Fall of 2018, UNM had a program record 27 student-athletes earn Mountain West All-Academic.  To qualify, a 3.2 cumulative GPA and playing in half the teams’ games is needed.  The 27 honorees topped the previous record of 23, set the season prior in 2017.  In fact, the five highest Mountain West All-Academic totals for the football program have come in the last five seasons.
 
Perhaps there is no more impressive number than the 14 Mountain West Scholar-Athletes that were honored in 2019.  To earn that award, a student-athlete must play during the season and have a 3.5 GPA or better.  The 14 honorees not only led all Mountain West football programs for 2019, but it was the most honorees for any football team in the conference since BYU in 2006.
 
Davie was effusive in his praise of the student success team of Ferguson, Mahina (who played under Davie) and Pierson, who work long hours and are as dedicated as anyone involved in the program.  “The stuff that they do that’s not in the job description as far as keeping our players on a steady path means the world to me.”
 
One key point made that is that the team is getting great grades while being a program in transition, without the benefit of the high number of four and five-year players that Davie had in 2001 when Notre Dame won the NCAA award for highest graduation rate.  Despite the high number of junior college players on the roster, the academics continue to improve.  “We are doing this with a lot of moving parts.”
 
There may be moving parts, but there is no denying that all those moving parts are moving in the right direction, not just on the field but in the classroom.  The awards show it.  The honors show it.  Now, that elusive mark of the best single semester GPA in program history shows it as well.