UNC Football program earns AFCA’s Academic Achievement Award

The UNC football program is among 12 NCAA schools that were awarded this year’s American Football Coaches Association’s Academic Achievement Award.

The UNC football program has earned a prestigious academic achievement award for the first time ever.

On Friday, the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) announced its 12 recipients for the 2023 Academic Achievement Award, as North Carolina was one of the programs honored this year.

Since 1981, the Academic Achievement Award was presented by the College Football Association (CFA) up until 1997 and has been presented by the AFCA ever since. The award is presented to the programs that record the highest graduation rate for members of the 2016-2022 cohort.

This marks the 12th year in which the NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) formula has been used to select the winners. According to the official press release from Go Heels, here are some of the criteria that make up the GSR and its calculations:

"The GSR is based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes and holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees and non-scholarship students at schools that do not offer athletics aid. Under GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are passed to the receiving institution’s GSR cohort."

As Mack Brown always says, “it’s a 40-year decision” to come to North Carolina. The UNC football program is showing success both on and off the field, as the student-athletes are competing on the field while striving off of it as well.

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