(Photo caption) Shown (l-r) are 2013 Demon senior football players Tchissakid Player, Blayne Cole and Tucker Nims, director of athletics Greg Burke, head football coach Jay Thomas, and athletic academic coordinators Carrie Crowell and Kelee Roddy.

NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State's football program has received recognition from the FCS Athletic Directors Association, which honors the team in each FCS conference with the largest increase over a year's time in its NCAA Academic Progress Rate score.
 
For the academic year 2011-12, Northwestern State football had the biggest APR increase of any Southland Conference program. Director of athletics Greg Burke displayed the plaque sent by the FCS ADA during the recent Fall Sports Media Day Luncheon, and presented it to head coach Jay Thomas and head academic coordinator Carrie Crowell.
 
“This is very good news. Coach Thomas and I talked about the fact that it's good we had that big an increase, and now we don't want to be in a position where a big increase is needed. We want to be consistently improving on this front year after year,” said Burke. “What this means is we're on that track now and our student-athletes, our academic support staff and the coaches involved are to be congratulated.”
 
The APR is a point system based on scholarship athletes' eligibility and retention for a pre-determined time period.  This year's report, issued earlier this summer, was for the four-year period beginning in the fall of 2008, and ending in 2011-12. Points are awarded each semester for academic eligibility and retention, with two points possible per semester per student-athlete.