NEWS

This is the third time I have had the same reaction to an A-10 press release about the numbers of scholar-athletes from 14 member institutions who have made the Commissioner’s Honor Roll. The reaction is that the press release paints an incomplete picture.

When the 2021 results were published, Davidson was #4 on their list of raw numbers of scholar-athletes on the Honor Roll. I wrote a complementary article to that A-10 press release, and wrote another one in 2023. I’m at it again because I remain convinced that the rest of the story is worth telling.

Davidson moved up two spots to #2 in 2023 and remains there in the latest list.The University of Massachusetts, the former #1 on the raw number list, is no longer in the conference. Even with their departure, the Wildcats held steady at the #2 slot, with Fordham leapfrogging into first place.

The raw numbers for the 2025-26 academic year are as follows: Fordham (351), Davidson (334), Saint Joseph’s (321), Rhode Island (319), and George Mason (318).

While it is important to provide the raw numbers of students who made the honor roll – I think it is far more important to put these numbers in perspective to the size of the respective colleges/universities to determine what percentage of the student body is actually reflected.

For the sake of relative brevity this year, I am once again limiting the "additional math" to those top 5 schools. The data below is the most recent enrollment data available on the schools' websites.

Number two on the raw numbers list, Davidson’s 334 scholar-athletes reflect a whopping 16.11% of the entire student body. So roughly 1 out of every 6 students on the Davidson College campus is on the A10 Honor Roll.

For Fordham, their 351 scholar-athletes reflect 2.17% of their combined undergrad and graduate students, or roughly 1 in 50 students.

The University of Rhode Island’s 319 honorees represent 1.83% of their total student body, and 2.12% of their undergraduates.

St. Joseph’s has 4.48% of their combined student body, and 6.36% if you only include the undergraduate students.

George Mason’s 318 scholar-athletes reflect 1.14% of the more than 27,000 undergraduate students enrolled. They reflect 0.80% of the larger graduate and undergraduate student body.

Here’s the brief recap, now in order of the percent of student body.

Davidson: 16.11% of the student body is on the A-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll

St. Joseph’s: 11.47% undergraduate only / 4.48% combined undergrad and graduate

Fordham: 3.19% undergraduate only / 1.86% combined

Rhode Island: 2.12% of undergraduates / 1.83% combined undergrad and graduate

Geo. Mason: 1.08% undergraduate only / .78% combined

Davidson has long highlighted the fact that roughly 25% of students on the undergraduate-only campus participate on one of the 21 intercollegiate, Division 1 sports teams. What is even more impressive is that so many of these Wildcats are not only doing great things on the courts, turf, and in the pool, they are earning the title scholar-athletes with impressive accomplishments in Davidson classrooms.

This is something that not only Davidson should celebrate, but the A-10 should as well. It is an unmatched, remarkable achievement. Davidson scholar-athletes have an impact across the A-10, well beyond the athletic venues where they compete.