Recently the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education (AAKPE) ranked the doctoral programs in the US. (http://www.aakpe.org/) Please find more details about the evaluation criteria and results from the following link. ( http://www.aakpe.org/documents/DPE%20results.pdf ) Data to be included are for the 5 calendar years 2000-2004.

Here's the listing of the top 25 doctoral programs according to the ranking released :

1       Penn State
        U. of Connecticut
3      U. of Maryland - College Park
        U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
        Arizona State University
6      U. Massachusetts - Amherst
7     Indiana University
8     Oregon State U.
       Teachers College, Columbia University
       U. of South Carolina
11   Texas A & M
       U. of Minnesota
13   U. of Texas - Austin
14    U. Georgia - Athens
15   U. of Houston
       U. of Illinois -Chicago
       U. of Wisconsin - Madison
18   U. of Michigan
       Michigan State U.
20   Iowa State U.
21   Louisiana State U.
22   Ohio State U.
       West Va. U.
24   U.North Carolina - Greensboro
       Purdue U.