MAKING
THE GRADES
BY AYLEEN PAZOS
Throughout the last couple of years, there has been great change in the Northern Arizona men’s basketball team not only on the court but also off of it. The development and improvement these players have done is something really remarkable. Head coach Shane Burcar is entering his third season and has had a great impact on this program with a focus on more than just the game. He wants to see his players succeed in areas beyond the court and when looking at the numbers, the Lumberjacks are doing just that. From the GPAs to the APR numbers, the men’s basketball program has really been putting in the time and effort. “As someone who coached at the high school level for so long, that change in culture is so beneficial for a college program,” said Burcar, who previously coached at Mesa High School. “I brought the values
that I have had over the years and in this program, we want you to do your work and put in an A effort.” When recruiting individuals, Burcar wants to bring in not only high caliber athletes, who are good players, but also students. He wants them to be able to reach all of their goals. “I do not want players that have been here for four years and say I lived in Gabaldon, I lived in Pine Ridge Village. I went to two NCAA Tournaments and I don’t have a degree,” Burcar said. There is a focus on every recruit that joins the NAU program. Before starting, a recruit sits down with part of the staff, who will help them with aspects like degrees that they want to go into, classes, scheduling and other aspects that will help them with their transition. Burcar wants to make sure that those recruits and the players in his program get the complete student-athlete experience when joining the team. With the help of Jessica Lopez, the Associate Athletic Director for Academics, the Lumberjacks’ success in the classroom has seen an increase during each of Burcar’s first two years. “It’s very rare for a men’s basketball team to have a cumulative GPA of a 3.0 and it has to do a lot with the communication between the head coach and the people in charge of academics,” said Lopez, who has worked with the men’s bas-
ketball team since joining the NAU Athletics Department last June. “Each week Coach Burcar comes in and ask for test scores, grades and how players are doing in class and he holds his athletes accountable. This has corrected many issues that the team previously had.” In Burcar’s interim season as head coach in 2019-20, the team’s GPA for the year was 2.97, up from 2.89 the year prior. Last year, the team’s GPA jumped up again to 3.09, the second-highest single-year GPA since the 2005-06 academic year. The Academic Progress Rate (APR) numbers have reached a high as well. The program’s single-year APR for the 2019-20 year was a perfect 1000, which was the best mark they have had since the 2009-10 school year. Overall, the men’s basketball team’s improvement has been great the last three years. Not only are the student-athletes getting good grades, but the program also has a diverse amount of degrees being studied. This is due to the amount of communications between the players and staff. Burcar and Lopez have been able to place students in areas that are better for them and that actually interest them, allowing the student-athletes to enjoy what they are doing and focus on their studies. “Having a more suitable major as well as classes is a determining factor to the success of the players,” Lopez said. NAU Athletics provides tutoring for their student-athletes and there has been an increase among the men’s basketball players. As a result, player eligibility has increased due to their attendance. The commitment to academics that Burcar has added to this program has created a positive movement for his players and with his help and support of the staff from NAU Basketball, the program will continue seeing growth with their players flourishing in many ways.
2021-22 NORTHERN ARIZONA MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL YEARBOOK
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