St. Thomas Finally Movin' On Up

Wow, is it really 6, almost 7 years ago now that I wrote about St. Thomas' domination of the MIAC and its potential to move into a more competitive environment? Yes, it was. Amazing. So, it was 6.5 years after what an anonymous commenter said was a "great article, great insight" that St. Thomas is now looking to move up to D1.

My conclusion 6.5 years ago was in 2 parts:

1. "One's sense of fair play is somewhat offended by the Tommies superiority over its day to day opponents in the MIAC." This was based on, as I reported, at that time:

• 31 men's basketball titles (#1 all-time), 7 straight  and 71-3 record over 6 years
• 13 women's basketball titles (tied #1) (which have since increased to 8 of 9)

Plus:

Men's Sports

• 31 baseball titles (#1) including 9 straight
• 24 cross-country titles (#1)
• 28 ice hockey titles (#1)
• 27 indoor track titles (#1, in fact, that was 27 out of 27 since the sport was initiated)
• 29 outdoor track titles (#1) including 24 of the past 29
• 16 football titles (#4) but 3 in a row
• 9 golf titles (#4)
• 10 swimming titles (#4)
• 6 soccer titles (#4)
• 9 tennis titles (#7)

Women's Sports

• 15 cross-country titles (#1)
• 24 indoor track titles (#1) including 12 in a row and 24 of 27 overall
• 27 outdoor track titles (#1) including 7 in a row and 27 of 30
• 16 softball titles (#1) with 10 of the past 12
• 8 golf titles (#2)
• 2 hockey titles (#2)
• 1 tennis title (#3)
• 4 soccer titles (#4)
• No swimming titles

Again, this was where things stood in January 2013, and it is likely that if I totaled up 2013-2019, the disparity between St. Thomas and the rest of the MIAC would be worse.

But 2. I also concluded that, considering enrollments and endowment funds, "it is almost impossible to construct an alternative model wherein it makes sense for St. Thomas to be in D1 or D2." The point was (and is) that there are virtually no private schools of St. Thomas' size and wealth (their endowment fund at that time was $335 million) that plays football and everything else in D1, or even in D2.

Now, it's true that that statement was based on the assumption that St. Thomas wanted to play football, which assumption looks very much to be correct. Because as St. Thomas prepares for the possibility of moving up to D1, football remains very much a part of the planning.

But, before we talk about the future, let's talk about the past--that is, the recent past, wherein the MIAC, well, what? They didn't really kick St. Thomas out, as was widely reported, at least not technically, though, on the other hand, if St. Thomas hadn't resigned, at least seven other schools had said they would have left and the MIAC would have died an ignominious death. So the Tommies did the only decent thing they could do and they left, well, not voluntarily, but they left.

Yer Out

In any event, St. Thomas is out of the MIAC. As I said, at least 7 schools (and maybe 9) said they would quit the MIAC if St. Thomas stayed in. Those reportedly were St. Olaf, Hamline, Augsburg, Carleton, Macalester, St. Mary's and St. Kate's--and Gustavus and Concordia were on the fence but might have joined the exodus. So, at that point, St. Thomas did the right thing and left sort of voluntarily though they announced that it was involuntary, but anyway you get the point. It was involuntary until it was voluntary.

There's a rumor that people love underdogs, but I don't think that's true. People love a winner. And, so, in this circumstance, everybody loves St. Thomas and most everybody was madder than hell at the MIAC. Pat Borzi, writing in MinnPost, wrote that "the MIAC damaged itself....the MIAC will be known as the conference that kicked out a founding school for winning too much." Bob Collins at MPR wrote, "It's not the fault of St. Thomas...that some MIAC football programs are terminally lousy.... It's a bad look for (the) MIAC." (Wow, I thought MPR was nice people! Collins must be a Tommie!) "All St. Thomas did was be really good at sports, and also be a school that people wanted to attend." (Yeah, definitely a Tommie!)

Of course, there was the little matter of Tommies football coach Glenn Caruso running up scores, like 84-0 over Hamline and 97-0 over St. Olaf, a game in which the Tommies went for it on 4th down 5 times and got a 1st down all 5 times. Oh, and went for a 2-point conversion in the 4th quarter. When you're up 64-0 at the half, you're not supposed to pull shit like that, right?

But, there was more complaining the day St. Thomas got sacked than the day they won 97-0, at least in the Twin Cities media. Jock cliches filled the air. The other MIAC schools were "cowards." If you can't beat 'em, you just gotta get better. Chip Scoggins, not content to rip the MIAC in his own columns in the StarTrib, had to piggyback a comment on Collins' MPR rant. "The MIAC schools who forced this outcome should be embarrassed."

Well, I once said St. Thomas should stay in D3, but now, frankly, I have to say that the fellows who ought to be embarrassed are those who seem to think that colleges are just places that sponsor athletic teams. And, now, I'll add, yes, it's too bad the MIAC kicked St. Thomas out. It's too bad St. Thomas didn't make the move first. Because, as I said 6.5 years ago, "One's sense of fair play is somewhat offended by the Tommies superiority over its day to day opponents in the MIAC." And, since then, it's gotten worse, including 97-0 worse.

They say that DeLaSalle will never move up no matter how many Class AAA basketball championships they win, because those championships translate directly into dollars and cents in donations. Similarly, a 97-0 football loss probably has the opposite effect on fund-raising from alumni and the so-called philanthropic community, which is to say, old guys who definitely don't lean toward underdogs.

So, what really makes sense to me is that this was not fundamentally about sports. Of course, the MIAC was its own worst enemy. I mean, I think they said it was about competitive equity. They couldn't really come right out and admit it was about money. It was and is about survival. Because, well, as Borzi reported, "Don't be surprised if an MIAC school closes or merges with another in the next ten years." The cost of education is skyrocketing and, as a result, it is feared that the number of kids going to college could decline and soon. And, those who do go to college are already voting with their wallets (that is, their loan portfolios) for business schools and engineering and everything except the liberal arts. So, some liberal arts colleges are struggling, and some will be closing--again, soon.

So, you're the president of such a university. Maybe your bread and butter is your law school and then, one day, St. Thomas says, we're gonna open a law school. Or, your bread and butter is a nursing school and then, one day, St. Thomas says, we're gonna open a nursing school. Or, for that matter, your the "sister-school" to St. Thomas and one day they say, We're gonna go coed.

At that point, St. Thomas is no longer a friendly competitor. Not off the field. Not on the field. And people have the nerve to say, if you can't beat St. Thomas, well, you just gotta get better. Sports cliches. Dumb jock cliches. A lot of these schools don't have two nickels to rub together, and you think they should take money out of the classrooms to make their football team better? Wow.

And then, on top of all of that, there's 84-0 and 97-0. Sorry. I always liked underdogs, and I am so sympathetic to those 7 or 9 presidents who said, if St. Thomas stays, we're leaving. Much of course was made of the fact that St. Thomas was a founder of the MIAC about 100 years ago. Well, it was about 6 years after that that Carleton was winning everything. They were beating Big 10 teams in basketball and football. They were winning everything. And, so, they left to go play tougher competition. (Of course, the massive irony is that at that time that meant moving to the Midwest Conference of Beloit and Grinnell and Knox and Ripon who, some of you will recognize are now the conference that Macalester has joined in football because it's looking for weaker competition.) Well, things change. Carleton is now back in the MIAC. And just because St. Thomas was there 100 years ago at the founding doesn't mean it's the right conference for them anymore.

Now, before I continue, I have to say. There are people at St. Thomas, and you know their names, who know I've always been a supporter of Tommies athletics. But, I'm just sayin.' It was time to move on. St. Thomas would be no better and no worse off if it had been the one to initiate the change,  but the MIAC would be better off if it had.

And, So, the Future

As I said back in 2013, Marquette's got nothing that St. Thomas hasn't got. Except a football team. Oh, and a hockey team. Still, St. Thomas is gonna be better than Marquette at everything except men's and women's basketball by year 5 in D1. Men's and women's basketball, maybe year 10. The problem is that being better than Marquette in football is not a good measure because, again, they ain't got one.

So, anyway, St. Thomas has been invited into the Summit League and everybody I know at St. Thomas wants to go that way. The Summit League is North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Omaha, Oral Roberts, Denver, Fort Wayne and Western Illinois.

The Tommies need a waiver from the NCAA to go directly from D3 to D1. Nobody's ever done it. The NCAA says it should be a 12-14 year process. Seriously? Then jumping directly must be impossible. Except nobody thinks it's impossible. What's impossible is how the hell anybody came up with 12 to 14 years! So, even St. Thomas folks says it's 50-50 at best that they're gonna get that waiver. But, if they do, they'll do fine in the Summit. Not as in winning 70 percent of the titles but as in winning 10 percent, which would be their fair share. In 10 years, maybe more. They'll do fine.

Except the Summit doesn't do football or hockey. So several Summit schools already play football in the Pioneer and/or the Missouri Valley. The Pioneer, which does not give football scholarships, includes Drake, Butler and Valpo. The MVC, which does, includes 3 of the Dakota teams. So maybe you start in the Pioneer and, if it goes well, move up?

In hockey, 7 teams are leaving the WCHA after 2021--Mankato, Bemidji, Bowling Green, Ferris, Lake Superior, Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan. Perfecto mundo. Meanwhile, the Lady Tommies hockey team is having discussions with the WCHA which still consists of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Mankato, Bemidji, UMD and St. Cloud. So hockey, not a problem.

As I said 6.5 years ago, football--specifically, scholarship football--is the one really big nut in moving to D1. So start out in the Pioneer, and all the rest is doable.

Still it's hard to escape the feeling that the D3 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) isn't a better fit. The WIAC is nothing like the MIAC. It is all of the UW satellite campuses--more like Mankato, St. Cloud, Duluth, Bemidji, etc. Compared to the MIAC it is bigger schools with bigger athletic budgets, better facilities, better coaches, better programs, and utterly unafraid to compete with St. Thomas. They are said to be more than willing to accept St. Thomas as a member. If that happened, the Tommies could keep on playing St. John's every year--and I mean St. John's (Collegeville). So, if, in the end, that NCAA waiver isn't forthcoming, well, that just might be a gift that keeps on giving.

But, if it is, then St. Thomas is going to do just fine. In fact, I'll go one better. In about 25 years, I would expect to see St. Thomas moving into the Big East.