Fulmer criticizes NCAA graduation rate survey method

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer, upset Tuesday that the NCAA reported only eight percent of his 1995 recruiting class graduated, criticized the organization&#39;s survey methods. <br> <br> The NCAA began tracking graduation rates of college athletes in 1984. The guidelines allow six years for students to complete a degree program, meaning players who leave early for the NFL usually do not count. Students who transfer and junior college players don&#39;t count in the percentage. <br> <br> The most recent survey that includes athletes who enrolled in 1995 was released last week. <br> <br> ``The NCAA system is really not a valid measuring stick,&#39;&#39; Fulmer said. <br> <br> The eight percent was a sharp decline from the 1994 class, which had 35 percent graduate within six years. Sixty-five percent graduated from the 1993 class. <br> <br> Among all Division I football players, the graduation rate rose from 49 percent to 52 percent this year. <br> <br> Nearly 40 percent of the players who enrolled in 1995 went on to play in the NFL. The 1995 class included players such as Peerless Price, Al Wilson and Spencer Riley. <br> <br> Riley graduated from Tennessee in August 2001 and counted in the NCAA report. <br> <br> ``The reality of our world and all programs at our level and are trying to recruit the quality of athlete we&#39;re trying to recruit is that you&#39;re going to lose a percentage of players in their junior and senior year before the allotted NCAA system allowed,&#39;&#39; Fulmer said. <br> <br> Fulmer said one of the recruits left Tennessee for personal reasons and two were dismissed. One player also had a medical hardship and counted in the 1996 class. <br> <br> The junior college players that enrolled in 1995, including Leonard Little, did not count in the survey. <br> <br> Fulmer said he believes Tennessee encourages athletes to stay in school and come back if they leave. <br> <br> ``We work really diligently as a university and athletic program and as a football staff to see that our young men in our program have success,&#39;&#39; Fulmer said. ``I&#39;m hopeful they&#39;ll come up with a good system, a good measuring stick that takes all those things into account as to whether we&#39;re successful or not.&#39;&#39;