The Idaho State Athletic Department has announced that the football program will have a perfect 1,000 Academic Performance Rating, or APR, score for the 2011-12 school year, pending NCAA approval.

The Academic Performance Rating is a way for the NCAA to measure an athletic department’s academic success.

“I appreciate the efforts, vision and hard work of Matt Steuart, Quinton Freeman, Nancy Graziano and Dr. James Yizar,” Idaho State Director of Athletics Jeff Tingey said. “To have a perfect 1,000 also speaks volumes to the efforts the student-athletes, coaches and our academic support areas have put in to create a culture of academic excellence.”

It has been a long steady journey for the Bengals. They have improved their APR each year for the past four years.  Idaho State football’s APR started at 873 in 2008 then grew to 883 in 2009, to 903 in 2010 and has finally reached a perfect score of 1,000.

A lot of credit needs to be given to Idaho State University head coach Mike Kramer for making the sacrifices to achieve an APR average score of 953.

Kramer sacrificed a position coach to help his players achieve academic success.

Freeman and Steuart have been huge in helping 14 former Bengal football players graduate in the last four years.

The football program is no longer under APR penalties and will once again offer the full 63 scholarships possible, be allowed full practice time and be permitted to qualify for post-season competition.

Now they just need to make it there.

“The improved APR scores and combined team grade point averages are a team effort by the coaches, student-athletes and our academic services area,” Steuart said. “It is exciting to see the continued academic improvement by the football program.”

In the last three semesters, the football program has seen growth in the classroom. The combined grade point average has improved each year under Kramer. The spring 2011 GPA was 2.84 and it improved to 3.06 in the fall of 2011 and 3.16 in the spring of 2012.

“We’ve come a long way since coach Kramer was hired,” Freeman said. “The guys have responded well to the challenge we have put in front of them, academically and athletically. We will continue to do great things in the classroom. I want to thank our guys for responding. They are capable and it’s showing.”