University of Oregon fans are still coming to terms with the sudden departure of head football coach Mario Cristobal, who fled Eugene for his hometown and alma mater, the University of Miami, this week after a second consecutive drubbing at the hands of the University of Utah.
But UO economics professor and blogger Bill Harbaugh highlighted a stat that university officials want to talk about even less than the Utah games: the football team’s low graduation rate.
Recently released NCAA figures first reported by the San Jose Mercury News show the Ducks tied for 10th in the Pac-12 in percentage of football players who graduate in six years (73%), ahead of only UCLA (71%), which is ed by another former Duck head coach, Chip Kelly.
“Cristobal’s ‘student-athletes’ just aren’t graduating,” Harbaugh tweeted.