St. Thomas (MN) becomes first D3 school to jump to D1
The NCAA finally approved their waiver and the St. Thomas Tommies of Saint Paul, MN will join the Summit League for all sports but hockey and football.
St. Thomas was voted out of their D3 conference the MIAA.
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/29469308/st-thomas-jump-division-iii-division-i
Duncan Robinson really broke down the D3 to D1 barrier. Now whole schools are doing it.
This will be really interesting, while dominant in their conference, and having some success having won at least one championship in football and basketball in the past 10-15 years, St. Thomas isn’t even really a D3 elite. Mount Union, Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Mary Hardin-Baylor have been far more dominant in football over that time. There are about 4-5 basketball programs consistently better.
While the circumstances dictate the waver, there is a reason it takes so long to make this move. They could easily become the worst team in every sport they compete in for many years. I wonder how great their President will think this move is then. They will also need to make significant upgrades to their sports facilities and they don’t have a ton more room to do so.
You're giving St. Thomas more credit than they deserve. St. Thomas has never won a D3 national title in football. They were runners up twice in 2012 and 2015. Both times losing to Mount Union by 14+ points.
However, they have won two national titles in basketball in 2011 and 2016. They were always the MIAC's traditional powerhouse in basketball. But you are correct, their prominence nationally in both sports has all been over the last decade. They do not have a long storied history and tradition of athletic dominance.
Their football stadium is very much that of a D3 school. Theyre going to need a $25-$75 million renovation on that alone I would assume?
I'm guessing they will also have to build a completely new basketball arena, I'm not sure you can renovate their tiny D3 gym into a D1 level arena? Probably need some improvements for soccer and baseball facilities. Everything else should likely suffice.
I would love to see St. Thomas become a D1 doormat for the next decade, especially in football.
Cut him some slack, MDen released new merch that day.
The amusing part is WD actually commented in that thread
In fairness, I don't think the conference alignments were known in that thread, so technically, there was more to the story which has now been told.
No, the conference affiliations for St.Thomas were announced at the same time of the announcement of moving up to D1. They are right in the press release from St. Thomas that was linked in the other thread. The ESPN link he has in the O is from the same day as the official announcement and has the same info.
This is just WD trying to get upvotes for being "in the know", but forgetting that someone else posted it and he commented on it.
So St. Thomas was kicked out of their conference for being too dominant? Can we kick a we few CFB teams out and up to the pros?
It was a little more complicated. St. Thomas is a large, urban, well-funded university with an enrollment about twice as large as the next biggest school in the MIAC. Most of the other schools are small, outstate liberal arts colleges in small towns that have recruiting and resource disadvantages due to where they're located and how much they have to spend on sports.
So it was definitely a competitive thing, but over the years St. Thomas also evolved into a culturally awkward fit in the MIAC.
Honestly, the whole "getting kicked out thing" was just to help with their waiver request to the NCAA.
Dude, WD. You commented in the first thread about this when this happened 5 days ago. This is rich.
I was high last night ok?
With relevance to Michigan, from December 2010:
A University of St. Thomas graduate might have helped keep Brady Hoke from becoming the University of Minnesota football coach.
Ron Fowler, a 1966 St. Thomas grad who has been CEO of a large beverage distribution company, has pledged $5 million to the San Diego State athletic department, the first $1 million to be used on salaries for Hoke, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
The Pioneer Press initially identified Hoke as the early target for the Gophers’ football coaching job.
“Frankly, I didn’t want it out, but I did this because I wanted to make sure Brady was going to be here and San Diego State wouldn’t be looking for another coach with a new president coming in,” Fowler told the San Diego newspaper. “It came down to: If not now, then I was going to have a lot of regret if Brady left. …The football program should be driving revenue. I have a chance to do something good. Let’s get it fixed.”