The NCAA released graduation rates for Division I athletes yesterday, and Pitt's rates improved, which continues a trend that began last year.

The report released yesterday is different from the federal graduation rate, called the Academic Progress Rate. The NCAA releases the graduation success rate or GSR, which, unlike the federal graduation rate, does not penalize schools for players who transfer from an institution in good academic standing.

The report does not reflect the current progress of student-athletes at the institutions. The report released yesterday instead reflects rates from 1996-99.

Pitt's GSR for all sports is 77 percent, up from 74 percent a year ago. The football and basketball team improved greatly from the rates of a year ago. The football team increased from 48 percent to 54 percent, and the basketball team jumped from 29 percent to 57 percent.

The Penn State football team graduated players from the same period at an 80 percent rate. Nittany Lions basketball players were at 67 percent. West Virginia football players were at 63 percent and basketball players 43 percent.

"This report continues the positive trend for Pitt athletics," athletic director Jeff Long said. "We were coming out of a period we could not be proud of. Now, we have not only a solid commitment to our athletic programs, but we also have a strong academic support programs. We're also recruiting better-prepared students.

"We are very confident that we'll see a continuation of this trend in the years to come. You'll see our numbers improving every year."

To put the report into perspective, roughly half the Pitt football players represented in the report were recruited by Johnny Majors. The others were recruited by Walt Harris. For basketball, more than three quarters of the players were recruited by Ralph Willard, the rest by Ben Howland.

Long pointed out that the one-year graduation rate for the 1999 basketball class is 100 percent. The one-year rate for the football team is 67 percent.

This is why schools endorse the APR as the best academic report because it reflects the current academic progress at schools.

Still, Long was pleased that Pitt showed significant progress in the GSR.

"We're moving in the right direction," he said. "You have to remember that we have different coaches and different staffs now. We have our act together on all levels. Each year, you'll see our numbers getting better."

This is the second year the NCAA released its own data. Athletes in 35 sports were evaluated. Graduation rates among male athletes increased from 69 percent to 70 percent.

Men's basketball again had the worst graduation rate of any sport, 59 percent. Baseball and football were the next lowest at 65 percent.

Conversely, 82 percent of women's basketball players graduated. Sports with the highest graduation rates (94 percent) were all on the women's side: fencing, field hockey, gymnastics and skiing. No men's sport topped 90 percent. The highest men's sports were skiing (89 percent), lacrosse (88 percent), gymnastics (86 percent) and water polo (85 percent).