Cougs' cumulative GPA hits new heights

STANDING IN STARK CONTRAST to recent and well publicized stories on the Cougars and the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate, there comes this little academic factoid. Washington State's cumulative GPA for the football team? It is the highest it has ever been.

The SID office at Washington State confirmed late Tuesday that Cougar football players in 2007-08 posted a cumulative GPA of 2.72.

That is the highest mark in the history of the program.

WSU student-athletes ranked second over the last 10 years in the Pacific-10 Conference in graduation rate with respect to seniors who have exhausted their eligibility. The football team has graduated its student-athletes at a rate four percent higher than the national Division I average, which also ranks second in the Pac-10.

This past year, Alex Brink, Jed Collins, Micah Hannam, Matt Mullennix were named first team Pac-10 All-Academic. Brink was named to the first team for the third time. Joe Eppele and Scott Selby were named to the second team while Romeen Abdollmohammadi, Kenny Alfred, Matt Eichelberger, Kevin Kooyman, Trevor Mooney and Ben Woodard were also honorable mention all-academic.