The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) has recognized the John Brown University volleyball program's success in the classroom by honoring the Golden Eagles with the 2018-19 Team Academic Award, the organization announced on Tuesday, July 23.
The 2018-19 honor marks JBU's eighth-consecutive year earning the prestigious award. Impressively, the Golden Eagles were one of only two Sooner Athletic teams to collect the accolades. With a team GPA of 3.52, John Brown's GPA finished in the top quarter of the entire NAIA.
"I continue to be so impressed and proud of our student-athletes' achievement in the classroom year after year," said JBU head coach Ken Carver. "Given the wide range of majors our players have, along with the academic rigor associated with an education at JBU, makes their achievement in the classroom that much more outstanding. To earn the AVCA Team Academic Award for any given year is something special; to have a team earn this prestigious honor eight years running is something at a whole other level.
"Our players take great pride in carrying over one of our team core values of pursuing excellence in all things and really attempt to set the bar high for themselves and for our team, year in and year out. This award is a recognition not only of the individual hard work and commitment from each of our players, but the ongoing mutual accountability and encouragement that enables our team to strive for and maintain such a high level of academic achievement."
Additionally, the volleyball program finished with nine selections on the annual Academic All-Conference team, needing a minimum of a 3.25 GPA, while 10 players earned a slot on the annual Commissioner's Honor Roll, a 3.00 GPA minimum requirement.
With an overall team grade-point average of 3.52, the Golden Eagles posted the highest mark of any Sooner Athletic volleyball program.
The AVCA Team Academic Award is the single largest award offered by quantity of schools, players and coaches honored. Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but two, while amassing a 619-team increase over the span of the last decade. Since the award's inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 973.
Sports on 07/28/2019