GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The American Baseball Coaches Association is proud to announce the over 400 member college and high school programs from across the country who have been awarded the 2019-20 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award. Three Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference programs were among those teams recognized. Complete ABCA Release
Austin College, Schreiner University and Texas Lutheran University were the three SCAC programs on the list, alongside 105 other NCAA Division III teams. The recognition marks the fourth consecutive year TLU has received the honor and its the fourth such recognition for the Schreiner program in the last five years. Austin College has received the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award for two straight years.
A record 421 college and high school programs submitted nominations and received this year's award. In total, 143 high school teams along with 278 programs from the NCAA Div. I, II, III, NAIA, and Junior College levels were recognized.
“In light of the challenges faced by so many programs across the country, we are humbled to be able to honor a record number of teams for their outstanding academic achievements,” said ABCA Executive Director Craig Keilitz. “It is a testament to the leadership of our member coaches and the commitment of their student-athletes who persevered during an unprecedented academic year.”
Coaches were able to nominate their teams for the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award following the conclusion of their spring semesters prior to the nomination deadline of July 17. To be honored, teams had to meet the following criteria:
- Must be a high school or college team
- Head coach must be a current ABCA member
- Team must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.0 scale during the 2019-20 academic year (Due to some schools changing to Pass/Fail grading, spring semester grades were not required to be included in the cumulative calculation).
The American Baseball Coaches Association has a long tradition of recognizing the achievements of baseball coaches and student-athletes. The ABCA/Rawlings All-America Teams are the nation's oldest, founded in 1949, and the ABCA's awards program also includes the ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Awards, the ABCA/Diamond Regional & National Coaches of the Year and several other major awards such as the ABCA Hall of Fame and the Dave Keilitz Ethics in Coaching Award.
