| This descriptive study examined the academic progress of student athletes at Coastal Carolina University during the years of 2001--02 through 2003--04. The purpose of this study was to compare the differences in team sports mean grade point average (GPA) during their semester of competition with their semester of noncompetition. Also studied was the difference in GPA based on gender, sport played and year played as well as the impact that introducing football to the university setting has made.;Coastal Carolina University was very unique during the studied period of time due to the introduction of football to the university setting. Coastal Carolina University, a Division I institution, introduced the first recruitment class to the university setting during the fall semester of the 2002--03 school year. During that year, the team participated in regular fall football workouts and participated in intersquad competitions. During the fall 2003--04 school year, football embarked on its first inaugural season of competition while competition as a Division I-AA football program.;Data that was collected for this research study came from the Office of Institutional Research at Coastal Carolina University and complied with the Student Right to Know Act. The aggregate data was put through a series of one sample t-test to measure means and standard deviations, one-way analysis of variance test (ANOVA), and Two-Way ANOVA's to analyze the data using the Statistical Analysis System, Version 8, or SAS. Tables were developed for each sport, gender, semester of competition and non-competition. Football was reported separately using the one-way ANOVA for the two years of data. |
