As the athletic department works towards its ambitious goals in both the academic and athletic spheres, it is important to gage progress within the University without giving too much credence to comparisons with other schools.
The department has stated that it hopes to have every campus team in the top 3 in the ACC and the top 10 nationally in both academics and athletics. These are lofty, if not unrealistic goals, but they are an indication of the direction that the department is trying to take the school.
Given the time it takes for turnover within college sports teams, this goal is obviously more long term. Regardless, with the football team ranked 189th among Division 1 schools for Academic Progress Rate, for example, it will require a significant amount of work.
It’s only natural for UNC to want to compare favorably to other top schools around the country, but these rankings aren’t overly important in the grand scheme of things.
Frankly, comparisons to other schools don’t always tell the entire story. UNC is aiming for excellence using the resources it has, and comparisons to schools with different standards and means to achieve such excellence doesn’t necessarily serve as a fair barometer for the school’s progress.
There is no institution doing what UNC is aiming to do — no school is ranked among the top 10 in both academics and athletics for each of its teams.
While it’s not wrong to have ambitious goals, a failure to achieve them should not be an indictment of an athletic department that is evidently doing all the right things to emerge from the recent scandal with a renewed sense of urgency.
The athletic department need only look inward to measure progress it has made in overcoming previous inadequacies. By doing this, the school will succeed, and the rankings will work themselves out.
