To view a database of LSU student-athlete graduation rates compared with the national average and other SEC schools, click here.LSU’s on-field success is not matching its performance in the classroom.In the latest NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate report, 12 of the 16 LSU athletic programs are below the national average.”It’s incumbent upon us to stress to our coaches and to our athletes the importance of that,” said Joe Alleva, LSU athletic director. “It has to be an emphasis for our coaches. They’re the ones that really control the young student-athletes.”The study measured graduation percentages from students entering from 1998-2001 that graduated within six years.The report groups cross country and track and field programs together and swimming and diving programs together.The University’s overall graduation rate is 58 percent. It is 69 percent among student-athletes.”It’s really important to also look at our graduation rates compared to the rest of the student body,” Alleva said.The 2007 national championship football team was tied with Tennessee for ninth in the Southeastern Conference with a 54 percent graduation rate.The women’s track and field team, LSU’s most recent national champion, ranked second to last in the SEC with a 72 percent GSR.Six of LSU’s 16 programs have GSRs of 80 percent or higher. Two programs — baseball and men’s basketball — are below 50 percent.The LSU men’s basketball team has the lowest GSR on campus, with a 40 percent success rate.”It’s not very good,” said LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson. “We have some work to do there.”Johnson said it’s no secret a correlation exists between academic and athletic success.”In college athletics, in college basketball primarily, a lot of guys think it’s just go to school, stay healthy,” Johnson said. “That’s not what this is about from my standpoint.”Johnson said he is open to try new ways to motivate players to improve their grades but will use the same methods he has used at other schools.”That’s one part you don’t have to worry about: [them] buying in,” Johnson said. “They’re going to do that.”Men’s basketball and baseball improved their GSRs from 2007. Men’s basketball had a 38 percent rate, and baseball had a 44 percent GSR one year ago.While the LSU baseball team’s GSR is low, its Academic Progress Rate is steadily increasing.The APR measures “academic progress” based on the eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes. GSRs only measure graduation rates.Baseball scored a perfect 1,000 on its APR for 2008, bringing its four-year average up to 923. An APR of 925 translates to a 60 percent GSR.Student-athletes transferring to different schools or leaving early to play professionally can cause GSRs to drop.LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri said it was a challenge to change the baseball team’s attitude toward school.”The first thing you’ve got to do is … take the players that you inherit and emphasize to them the importance of education,” Mainieri said. “Sometimes it goes beyond emphasizing it; it goes to demanding.”Mainieri said he has stopped recruiting players because of their lack of focus in the classroom.”The first [prerequisite] when we recruit a player is that they have to have the ability as baseball players to help us win championships,” Mainieri said. “I try to get a good reading on the kid. Sometimes he may have a lower ACT, but he’s overachieved in the classroom. See, I like those kind of players.”Six LSU programs — baseball, football, men’s track and field, men’s golf and men’s and women’s basketball — increased their rates from 2007 to 2008. But six teams’ rates dropped — women’s track and field, gymnastics, soccer, softball and men’s and women’s swimming.Four teams’ GSRs remained the same — men’s and women’s tennis, women’s golf and volleyball.Only two LSU programs, volleyball and men’s tennis, have a GSR of 100. Both programs also had 100 percent rates in 2007.LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis said the culture in the women’s tennis program promotes good grades.”These girls are so competitive with each other as far as making good grades,” Minnis said. “That kind of spreads, and it pushes them to really try to excel in the classroom.”The data in the report comes from student-athletes who entered LSU one year before the opening of the Cox Communication Academic Center for Student Athletes in November 2002.The Cox Center provides study hall hours, tutoring services and more than 150 computers for student athletes to use.—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]