Binghamton may not always finish at the top of the pack athletically, but academically, the Bearcats are the top dog.

At the end of each academic year, the America East Conference compiles the GPAs of all student-athletes enrolled in its nine member universities and honors those who achieved a 3.0 or higher in the spring semester. Last spring, Binghamton University had the largest number of student-athletes earn this distinction, with 142 of them awarded a spot on the AE Honor Roll.

Binghamton also placed 86 students on the AE Commissioner’s Honor Roll, which recognizes those who earned a GPA of 3.5 or higher. As a whole, student-athletes managed a 3.13 GPA for the 2013-14 academic year.

“I think that Binghamton University in general prides itself on its academic reputation,” said Senior Associate Athletic Director Ed Scott, who is in charge of the academic support system for student-athletes. “I think what that shows … is really just that we’re in alignment with the mission of the University. That we’re competing against our peer institutions athletically, but we’re also surpassing them academically.”

That’s not a happy coincidence. Student-athletes at Binghamton often made the decision to suit up as Bearcats because academics come first. Coaches draw on Binghamton’s academic excellence in their recruiting.

One of the main resources available to student-athletes is the Student-Athlete Success Center (SASC). Through the SASC, each athletic team is assigned an academic adviser who helps with scheduling classes, developing time-management skills and keeping on top of coursework. The SASC also employs tutors who work exclusively with student-athletes. Located in the West Gym, the SASC provides a quiet area in which student-athletes may study near their training facilities.

“I think arguably our student-athlete support area and services are almost as comprehensive as anyone in the entire Northeast, even schools that are bigger than us,” Scott said, comparing Binghamton’s support system to Syracuse’s.

Though largely self-sufficient, the athletics department’s academic services are not isolated from the University. Scott, who joined Binghamton in 2008 and revamped the support system, has worked with other programs and departments on campus to ensure that his system is integrated with and not funneling resources from the University.

“A lot of what I’ve tried to do over the last six years is work with the campus where they have existing resources to make sure that we’re moving in alignment with the rest of the campus,” Scott said. “Our goal, as a success center specifically, is to be a part of the educational opportunities on campus, not apart from them.”

For instance, though the SASC employed 117 tutors last semester, these undergraduate and graduate students were compensated through funds provided by the NCAA’s Student-Athlete Assistance fund. The tutors were paid the same wages as those employed by the University’s other large-scale tutoring providers — Educational Opportunity Program and Center for Learning and Teaching — so that they wouldn’t potentially thin out the number of applicants to those programs.

The SASC has also established relationships within Watson and the student affairs master’s program. Scott noted that the athletics department’s “IT department” is made up of computer science majors who they take on as interns. Additionally, the SASC hires advisers from the student affairs master’s program, allowing these graduate students to get experience they might need for future employment.

“A lot of those graduate students are looking for practical experience in instruction, in curriculum development, or what have you, and so by working with our student-athletes, it gives them some tangible experience they can use when they try to become employed full-time,” Scott said.

Scott based his reform on the system he saw at Louisville, where he worked with the men’s basketball program. And Scott, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in the College of Community and Public Affairs, seems like a perfect fit for his current role: He is also a product of the SUNY system, having played baseball for Albany in his undergraduate years. All in all, Scott implemented a deal of change to the SASC, and it’s yielding results.

“I would say that I’m most proud of what we built from the ground up,” Scott added. “We had one tutor [in 2008], [now] we have 117. We’ve increased the number of counselors that we have — by one — and then we also hired a learning specialist that works directly with our student-athletes.”

Scheduling woes for the student-athlete

The resources provided by the SASC are in high demand for students whose time is scarce. Between the NCAA allowing up to 20 hours of practice per week in-season, needing to meet major and general education requirements and preparing for competitions and exams, time management skills are essential.

For Robin Lesage, a senior majoring in management and a member of the men’s tennis team, it all comes down to strategic scheduling. The most difficult part for Lesage is that during the spring — men’s tennis’ more active season — the team travels every weekend.

“It’s really tough to get work done,” Lesage said. “It’s just impossible to study in the bus and the hotel is just really tough to stay focused especially if you play two matches in the day and you’re just exhausted.”

For that reason, Lesage took five classes in the fall semester. Overloading in the off-season allowed him to craft a more reasonable schedule for the spring.

“I try to manage my semester in terms of difficulty of classes,” he said. “If I’m going to have a tough semester, it’s going to be in the fall for sure.”

Student-athletes have more flexibility in the off-season, in which NCAA policy mandates that coaches require no more than eight hours of practice a week.

But sometimes even taking more demanding courses during the off-season isn’t enough. Scott estimated that over 40 percent of student-athletes take courses during the summer sessions, which allows student-athletes whose in-season period spans both semesters more room to breathe.

“I would definitely say I try to take a couple of harder classes over the summer,” said Marlon Beck II, a sophomore majoring in management and a guard on the men’s basketball team. “You don’t have any outside distractions. There aren’t too many people on campus. It’s basically just me, my teammates and our coaches — like our own little family. So I can really focus on my academics.”

It’s not just choosing when to load up on credits and when to take it easy: Scheduling classes around practices is another point of potential conflict, especially since student-athletes cannot miss class for practice under University policy.

“When we schedule classes, our coaches just say, “Block off three to six — no classes during then,’” said Connie Gormley, a senior majoring in psychology and a defender on the women’s soccer team. “But they’re kind of flexible. If you have a class that might run 10 minutes into it, they’re like, ‘Okay, you can still take it, just come out a little later.’ So it’s within reason.”

Scott mentioned that sometimes coaches will alter the entire team’s practice schedule based on one player’s course schedule, if absolutely necessary and if possible.

That still doesn’t seem to leave time for three- or four-hour courses like seminars and labs. But the NCAA requires that teams take one day off of practice in-season, and student-athletes like Jesse Garn take advantage of that.

“You have to have one day off a week … so that’s when I usually try to schedule all of my labs and things like that,” said Garn, a senior majoring in biochemistry and a three-season athlete on the track and cross country teams. “Then you don’t have to cut into the running schedule.”

Advising and study hall

Another resource available to student-athletes is their team’s adviser. Many student-athletes attend weekly meetings with their advisers to discuss everything from upcoming assignments to test preparation to course scheduling. Others just pop in whenever they wish. How frequently student-athletes meet with their advisers depends on the coach.

For freshmen and transfer students, those weekly meetings are particularly helpful to ensure a smooth transition into life as a student-athlete. Advisers and counselors help the newcomers construct their schedules and figure out what courses to take and when to take them, among other things.

In terms of scheduling, advisers can warn against taking a particularly difficult class during a semester that coincides with a rigorous season, but the decision is ultimately the student’s.

“We provide council, we provide advice, but at the end of the day, it’s totally up to them what they take and what they don’t take,” Scott said.

Additionally, all freshmen and transfer students are required to attend study hall hours. Student-athletes are required to log anywhere between six and 10 hours per week, determined by the head coach in conjunction with the athletics department. The student-athletes’ hours are then monitored through the Artemis Study Hall Tracking System, in which their B-numbers are entered either by one of the SASC’s student assistants or a tutor.

When finished studying, student-athletes have to sign out using the same process. That ensures that they don’t skimp on their hours or just sign in and bail.

“To make sure you can’t cheat the system, like sign in and just leave, if you don’t sign out after three hours, then it just wipes out all your hours,” Garn said.

Constricting as that may sound, that Big Brother-type monitoring is certainly beneficial.

“I know freshman year, if I didn’t have study hall, I probably would not have been as focused,” Beck said. “It makes sure that you always stay focused and on top of your academics.”

If the freshmen earn a GPA higher than the bottom threshold designated by their coach and the department, then study hall hours are not mandated for those individuals in the next academic year. While that minimum GPA varies, most exceed the 2.5 minimum required by the University.

Of course, even if they place out of study hall, that doesn’t mean these over-achievers can’t take advantage of all the opportunities the SASC has to offer.

“This semester, I don’t have required study hall hours, but I still go in there daily just because it’s such a good resource,” Garn said. “You have quiet hours, and deeper studying. People get tutoring services down there as well, so you can be tutored in one corner.”

With all the components in place to ensure success from its student-athletes, next up for the SASC are just minor improvements.

“I think in the near future we really need to upgrade aesthetically and physically the Student-Athlete Success Center,” Scott said. “Now that we have the rest of the infrastructure in place, we can spend our time focusing on that in the near future.”