Two of those scholarships will apply to this academic year, while the remaining six are factored into the 2008 recruiting class, the school said.

“The NCAA has an appeals process but at this point we felt it was best to accept our penalties and move the football program forward,” athletic director Jim Sterk said.

The NCAA released today a nationwide report that recommended possible scholarship losses at nearly 150 college teams in all sports. The WSU football program was the only sport among the four Division I programs in the state — including Washington, Eastern Washington and Gonzaga — to face scholarship losses.

The 2007 Academic Progress Rate report showed that 13 of WSU’s 17 sports programs are in compliance with NCAA guidelines. Men’s basketball, baseball and volleyball were not, but do not face scholarship losses.

The report contains data for the previous four academic years and assigns each sport a corresponding score. The APR awards two points each term to student-athletes who meet eligibility standards and remain with the institution. A team’s APR is the total points earned by the team at a given time divided by the total points possible.

The football team recorded a four-year average score of 916, missing the 925 NCAA benchmark. Teams falling below that are subject to scholarship penalties.

In the case of football, the 2006-07 single-year score of 874 dropped the four-year average under 925. The previous three years produced APR scores of 916 (2003-04), 955 (2004-05) and 921 (2005-06).

Three other WSU sports did not reach the 925 benchmark: men’s basketball (905), baseball (921) and volleyball (923). None will lose scholarships because they did not have an athlete leave the institution as ineligible.

“I am encouraged by the majority of our athletic programs and the tremendous work our coaches and student-athletes have put forth, but the most recent APR score by our football program for last year is not acceptable,” Sterk said.

Sterk said new football coach Paul Wulff, who replaced Bill Doba after last season, was aware of the situation and had assured him that academics would be a priority. While at Eastern Washington, Wulff’s program had an APR score of 944 over the most recent three-year period.

Men’s basketball has seen a dramatic improvement since Tony Bennett, and before him his father Dick, took control of the program five years ago. In Dick’s first season (2003-04) the men’s basketball’s APR score was 813. The following three years have produced scores of 938, 923 and 942.

Baseball has also improved after a score of 853 in 2003-04. The scores have been 894, 952 and 962 the past three seasons. Volleyball produced scores of 976 in 2005-06 and 957 for 2006-07.