Determining The 2009 STACK Elite 50

Using the four academic and athletic performance categories here, we determined the top 15 teams in 21 collegiate sports, then awarded points to a school for each top-15 team, on a descending scale. Finally, we added up the total points for each school and ranked them one through 50.

Here’s how data from the four categories were used to create each sport-specific top 15, as well as the rationale for including them.

2009 U.S. News & World Report on America’s Best Colleges

U.S. News & World Report annually ranks the top 125 colleges and universities academically, using an intricate formula that takes into account, among other factors, college entrance exam scores; acceptance, retention and graduation rates; educational expenditures [e.g., funds provided for research]; and faculty resources [e.g., student-to-teacher ratios].

A school’s U.S. News ranking was an especially significant factor in our calculations.

Some schools are not categorized by U.S. News as universities, and thus are not included in their top 125; however, U.S. News ranks such schools in separate sub-categories, such as “liberal arts colleges.” STACK noted these schools with an asterisk (*) and used their sub-category ranking. For example, Navy is not categorized as a national university, but is ranked 20th among liberal arts colleges. We used that ranking.

Academic Progress Rate [APR]

Established by the NCAA in 2005, APRs gauge how well collegiate athletic programs move their student athletes toward graduation. Every team receives a rating based on the academic eligibility and retention of its players. Two points are awarded each season to every student-athlete who meets academic eligibility standards and who remains with the institution. A team’s APR is the total points earned by its members in a given period, divided by the total points possible. The highest rating is 1000. Teams that fail to reach minimum standards, which depend on the sport and its number of participants, risk NCAA sanctions.

Athletic Performance

National Rank. In a system that includes athletics as a major component for rating top schools, it is important to recognize national, end-of-the-season rankings in national polls [e.g., USA Today, The Associated Press, ESPN], or a team’s finish at the NCAA tournament. For each of the 21 sports covered in the STACK Elite 50, we awarded points for any top-25 finish achieved in the last three years—the most points to the team ranked number one, and a descending number of points for teams ranked two through 25. For sports whose seasons conclude with an NCAA championship tournament [golf, track & field, cross country, swimming, tennis and wrestling], we used a team’s finish in its respective tournament to peg its end-of-season rank.

Win-Loss Record. For schools whose teams had outstanding seasons but were overlooked in the national rankings because of their smaller size, we looked at end-of-season win-loss records for the last three years. We determined how many games over .500 they were in those years and awarded points based on that total. This ensured that schools in smaller athletic conferences were not ignored despite their success. For individual sports, whose participants can make it to the NCAA tournament without their teams [golf, track & field, cross country, swimming, tennis and wrestling], we used NCAA Championship results.

STACK Factor

The STACK Factor attempts to evaluate the strength of a school’s overall athletic community and its level of support for athletics, both of which strongly affect student-athletes. This score was largely based on how many of a school’s sports teams finished in the top 25 nationally.