St. Thomas (Minnesota)

wiu712 · Fri Apr 03, 2020 2:41 pm

NCAA meeting to consider St. Thomas' request to move to Division I still scheduled for April.
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
https://www.startribune.com/ncaa-meetin ... 569263832/

meganeck · Mon Apr 06, 2020 10:56 pm

wiu712 wrote: Fri Apr 03, 2020 2:41 pm NCAA meeting to consider St. Thomas' request to move to Division I still scheduled for April.
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
https://www.startribune.com/ncaa-meetin ... 569263832/

Scott, this article says St. Thomas is exploring football in the MVFC, what do you think the chances are.

Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:16 am

meganeck wrote: Mon Apr 06, 2020 10:56 pm
wiu712 wrote: Fri Apr 03, 2020 2:41 pm NCAA meeting to consider St. Thomas' request to move to Division I still scheduled for April.
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
https://www.startribune.com/ncaa-meetin ... 569263832/
Scott, this article says St. Thomas is exploring football in the MVFC, what do you think the chances are.

Eventually...maybe. Right away...almost zero. They'd be going from zero scholarship DIII to full-scholarship FCS immediately, all while moving all their other sports to DI as well. That's going to involve facilities improvements, more scholarships, and overall a pretty huge step up in financial investment. Also, their stadium as it currently stands is about half what it needs to be to be comparable with the bottom-end of the MVFC (for capacity)...that aspect isn't a deal-breaker though.

Compare that to them going to the Pioneer League first...also non-scholarship, just like they are now. Stadium size is right in-line with most of the other Pioneer League teams. Teams in that league regularly schedule non-DI teams for non-conference games, so they could much more easily keep their rivalry with Saint John's, at least for the short-term. Honestly, football-wise, there's very little they'd have to do differently to be a Pioneer League team, and they could focus on moving everything else to DI first. Once things are settled in DI, then I could see them looking at the MVFC as the eventual target, but that's likely a few years down the road beyond that point.

wiu712 · Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:32 am

The St. Thomas football stadium seats 5,025.

A record crowd of 12,483 saw the September 14, 2014 game vs Saint John's thanks in part to additional bleacher seating that was erected in both endzones.

meganeck · Tue Apr 07, 2020 10:30 am

ST_Lawson wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:16 am
meganeck wrote: Mon Apr 06, 2020 10:56 pm
wiu712 wrote: Fri Apr 03, 2020 2:41 pm NCAA meeting to consider St. Thomas' request to move to Division I still scheduled for April.
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
https://www.startribune.com/ncaa-meetin ... 569263832/
Scott, this article says St. Thomas is exploring football in the MVFC, what do you think the chances are.
Eventually...maybe. Right away...almost zero. They'd be going from zero scholarship DIII to full-scholarship FCS immediately, all while moving all their other sports to DI as well. That's going to involve facilities improvements, more scholarships, and overall a pretty huge step up in financial investment. Also, their stadium as it currently stands is about half what it needs to be to be comparable with the bottom-end of the MVFC (for capacity)...that aspect isn't a deal-breaker though.

Compare that to them going to the Pioneer League first...also non-scholarship, just like they are now. Stadium size is right in-line with most of the other Pioneer League teams. Teams in that league regularly schedule non-DI teams for non-conference games, so they could much more easily keep their rivalry with Saint John's, at least for the short-term. Honestly, football-wise, there's very little they'd have to do differently to be a Pioneer League team, and they could focus on moving everything else to DI first. Once things are settled in DI, then I could see them looking at the MVFC as the eventual target, but that's likely a few years down the road beyond that point.

Ok, thank you. i was surprised when I read that, that is why I asked. I had only heard about them joining the Pioneer League.

wiu712 · Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:20 pm

The football-playing schools in the Summit League (Western and the 4 Dakotas) are in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

If St. Thomas gets the approval to join the Summit, seeing them in the MVFC would not be a surprise.

Their current enrollment is approx 10,000.

leatherneckcountry · Sun May 10, 2020 7:01 am

I’m hearing that Lindenwood and USI are looking to make the jump to D1.

wiu712 · Sat May 23, 2020 8:31 am

St. Thomas still views Division I move as best long-term strategy.
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
https://www.startribune.com/st-thomas-s ... 570692292/

wiu712 · Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:33 am

St. Thomas' proposal to move to Division I being considered by the NCAA this week.
From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
https://www.startribune.com/st-thomas-d ... 571252902/

wiu712 · Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:35 pm

The University of St. Thomas gained NCAA support Wednesday for its athletic programs directly from Division III to Division I.

The NCAA’s Division I council announced after a committee meeting that St. Thomas can make a formal request to waive re-classification rules that currently mandate a 12-year process with a stop in Division II.

Wednesday's meeting of the NCAA's Division I Council saw a proposal introduced for Division III schools to transition to Division I - which St. Thomas hopes to do - but the formal vote on the proposal won't come until April 2021.

St Thomas has been invited to join the Summit League for all sports, except football and hockey, which would need to either play as independents or find a D-I conference home. Potential landing spots are either the NCHC or newly-reforming CCHA for men's hockey and the non-scholarship football-only Pioneer League. Women's hockey would likely go to the WCHA.