Every year the National Collegiate Athletics Association compiles data about graduation rates for student athletes.  In this year’s data, which looks at students who started college in 2002, Georgetown student-athletes had a graduation rate of 86 percent—well above the Division I average of 63 percent.

The graduation rate for student athletes at Georgetown is slightly lower than the overall graduation rate, 94 percent.

The report also gives graduation rates for specific sports.  Several teams had 100 percent graduation rates, including Men’s Golf and Women’s Crew, Field Hockey, Golf, Swimming and Tennis. Other teams with graduation rates above 85 percent were Men’s Baseball and Lacrosse and Women’s Lacrosse, Soccer and Volleyball.

The team with the lowest graduation rate was Men’s Basketball, which had a graduation rate of 60 percent.  The graduation rate for Georgetown’s Basketball team is still higher than the Division I average for the sport of 48 percent.

Last week, the Athletic Department held tryouts for potential Jack the Bulldog mascots.  Three hopefuls—all freshmen—showed up to audition for two open spots (since there are so many obligations, three students share mascot duties).

What does it take to make a good mascot?  Dance skills; the ability to successfully execute high fives, low fives and fist bumps with limited visibility; and a high tolerance for hot, smelly costumes (one potential Jack almost threw in the towel before his audition started due to the stench).

Because the mascot’s identity is a highly-guarded secret, Vox wasn’t allowed to interview the candidates, but we are able to show you footage from their try-out routines.  Enjoy!

Videography and editing by Joe Mancino.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has put Georgetown on a three-year probation due to major rules violations related to work-study payments to 26 baseball players between 2000 and 2007. The NCAA is also vacating all records of games from that period that implicated players participated in.

According to a letter from University President John DeGioia, the Department of Athletics paid an excess $61,522 in work-study compensation. DeGioia writes that this is Georgetown’s first major NCAA rules infraction, and it was self-reported.

The NCAA released a press release today explaining the punishments for the violation:

• Public reprimand and censure.
• Three years of probation (September 2, 2009, to September 1, 2012).
• Limit of five equivalency scholarships for baseball for 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years (self-imposed by the university). The committee extended this restriction to the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 academic years. If the institution has already obligated more than five equivalencies in baseball for the 2009-10 academic year, it may delay the initiation of this limit to 2010-11, in which case this penalty will end with the 2012-13 academic year.
• Financial penalty of $61,000.
• Vacation of all wins in which any of the involved 26 baseball student-athletes competed while ineligible during the 2000-01 through 2006-07 baseball seasons.

Expect more information in tomorrow’s edition of the Voice.

Photo from Georgetown Athletics.

With Athletic Director Bernard Muir’s departing for the greener fields of the University of Delaware in about a month, Georgetown has appointed Dan Porterfield Interim AD, according to an article in Blue & Gray (in print only, not online yet). Porterfield is Senior Vice President for Strategic Development and an Assistant Professor of English.

Although lately the “Interim” label has come to mean something along the lines of, “Someone We’ll Call ‘Interim’ Until We Go Through The Trouble of Hiring Them Permanently” (see: Chester Gillis) it looks like Porterfield’s tenure as AD will be more traditionally transitional.

From the Blue & Gray article:

A search process will begin to find a new leader for Georgetown’s athletics department, which oversees 29 varsity teams.

“Upon Bernard’s departure, Dan will be responsible for overall leadership of the department,” said DeGioia. “He will work closely with me and other senior leaders, coaches, faculty and alumni in the recruitment of the new athletic director, a process that we will launch in a few weeks.”

Update: The article can now be found online at GUHoyas.com.

Due to the outbreak of the norovirus on campus, athletic director Bernard Muir has postponed or cancelled most events scheduled for this weekend, including women’s soccer home games Syracuse and St. John’s, football away at Colgate, and swimming away at American. Muir said games were delayed because of sick players:

“Because several members of the team have been infected and others have been exposed, and because the infection is contagious, after discussion between medical personnel at both universities and with Syracuse’s and St. John’s athletic administration and the BIG EAST, the decision has been made not to play the games. Make-up dates have not been reached at this time.”