The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor was very proud to promote its college football team’s academic GPA for the fall semester. However, it accidentally put a large number of its student-athletes on blast with a graphic that did not serve the purpose it had hoped.
Approximately 50% of the roster finished with grades at or lower than a C- based on the provided information.
Mary Hardin-Baylor is a private Christian university located in Belton, Texas. It was initially chartered by the Republic of Texas way back in 1845. The predominantly Baptist institute of higher learning enrolls approximately 3,913 students with about 91% in pursuit of an undergraduate degree.
Known as the Crusaders, Mary Hardin-Baylor’s college football team is a powerhouse on the Division III level. They missed out on the playoffs just four times since 2000. Legendary head coach Pete Fredenburg won three national championships in 2016, 2018 and 2021. He went 231-39 during his 24-year tenure with the program.
Larry Harmon took over in 2022. The Crusaders won 12 games in his first year but only six in year two. Mary Hardin-Baylor went 9-3 in 2024 and will play Johns Hopkins in the D-III semifinal round on Saturday.
With its playoff game on the horizon and fall semester now in the past, the football team proudly shared its GPA on social media. The Crusaders combined for a 2.72. 15 athletes on the roster finished with a perfect 4.0 GPA. 51 athletes finished with a GPA of 3.5 or above.
🤓🤓#gocru pic.twitter.com/qXiZu84Lyw
— UMHB Football🏈 (@CruFootball) December 12, 2024
At its core, a 2.72 is actually pretty good. That’s a B- average. There is no reason to scoff at a comfortable passing grade!
However, Mary Hardin-Baylor messed up by including the additional information. Its graphic totally backfired.
Lets assume there are 100 players on the Crusaders’ roster. If 15 of 100 athletes finished with a GPA of 4.0 and 36 athletes finished with a GPA of 3.5, that leaves 49 athletes unaccounted for. By that math, to average 2.72 as a team, the other 49 athletes finished with a GPA of 1.76.
And those numbers are probably even worse than they appear.
More than likely, the 36 athletes who finished with a GPA of 3.5 or higher but not a perfect 4.0 did not finish with a 3.5 on the nose. There have to be a few 3.7s or 3.8s in the mix, right? For every player who finished above 3.5 and below 4.0, the average GPA of the other 49 athletes drops even further below 1.76, which equates to a C-/D+. YIKES!