DIII to DI - University of St thomas invited to Summit

[Marty11]

https://www.fox9.com/news/university-of-st-thomas-invited-to-join-division-i-summit-league

 

[get'em_griz]

Looks like the MVFC is the most logical home for St Thomas football (That is, if the MVFC wants to add them). Also read on Anygivensaturday that UST has plans to join the Patriot League with intentions to have full scholarship in 10 years. Of course, this is all pending on if the NCAA allows the jump from DIII to DI.

Stadium Capacity: 5,025
Record Attendance: 12,483 (Sept. 14, 2014)

Team Record since 2008: 110-17
Overall Record: 616-348-34, .634 pct

 

[Da Boyz Mom]

From the below ESPN article: "In May, MIAC officials threatened to disband the league if St. Thomas remained a member. The school has won six MIAC football championships since the start of the 2010 season. The Tommies are 1-0 in league play this season after a 74-14 victory over Hamline University on Sept. 21.

"After extensive membership discussions, the University of St. Thomas will be involuntarily removed from membership in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference," the league said in a statement in May. "The MIAC Presidents' Council cites athletic competitive parity in the conference as a primary concern. St. Thomas will begin a multiyear transition immediately and meanwhile is eligible to compete as a full member of the MIAC through the end of spring 2021.""

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/27767474/university-st-thomas-booted-d-iii-success-gets-division-invite

So basically they are being kicked out of their league because they are too dominant. Could the FCS use the same reasoning to get rid of NDSU and level the playing field for everyone else??? But seriously... How is this even a thing?

 

[UNDfan]

Have said UST implemented their own expulsion from the MIAC, and that was decried by other ND posters. I was almost certainly correct. UST had a fb game against St John’s that attracted like 38,00 fans to Target Field. This year, they play it at Allianz Field, the MLS stadium near the UST campus.

But the MVC loves private schools and UST would probably be invited after finishing their DI transition. Meanwhile, Augustana gets second place and they will have to wait til UST leaves or be a backup if the NCAA doesn’t approve UST’s waiver. Denver’s fans are ecstatic because it’s a similar private school and most of the Dakota fans seem happy UST was invited.

But hockey will probably become their main sport, as rumors are they are building a 5000 seat arena near Allianz.

 

[IdaGriz01]

... So basically they are being kicked out of their league because they are too dominant. Could the FCS use the same reasoning to get rid of NDSU and level the playing field for everyone else??? But seriously... How is this even a thing?

Here's an earlier article about the decision:
http://www.startribune.com/st-thoma...xt-after-being-kicked-out-of-miac/510270892/

I decided a quote a bunch of the article because it is quite interesting. I've have put a couple key points in bold.

… The league’s presidents had for weeks been considering an ouster of St. Thomas, a St. Paul school with an undergraduate enrollment of 6,199, about two times bigger than the next-­largest MIAC schools. Votes from nine of the league’s 13 schools would have been needed to oust St. Thomas, and school presidents this week apparently had the votes secured to make the move.
St. Thomas, St. John’s, St. Benedict and possibly Bethel were against the move, sources said. Sources also told the Star Tribune earlier this month that the presidents seeking to oust St. Thomas would push the MIAC to change its bylaws, instituting an enrollment cap.
… The effort to oust St. Thomas was conducted in secret, with officials of the MIAC and its other schools declining to comment.
… While the Tommies have won the MIAC’s men’s and women’s all-sports titles in each of the past 11 seasons, their football dominance rubbed some members the wrong way. Since Glenn Caruso took over as coach in 2008, the Tommies have won six conference titles and played in two NCAA Division III championship games. They routinely have blown out conference opponents, with nine MIAC victories by 50 or more points in the past two seasons.
The tipping point for many, a source told the Star Tribune, was the Tommies’ 97-0 romp at St. Olaf in 2017.
… Esten, a St. Thomas alumnus who took over his role in January, acknowledged that football gets the most attention but that the success of the Tommies’ entire athletic department prompted the MIAC’s decision.

This article and several others I saw said the bottom line became: "It's them or us." That is, the smaller schools would basically go off and form a new conference rather than stay in a MIAC that contained St. Thomas.

I had read some of this earlier, but none of what I saw mentioned how big the university was compared to the other schools in the conference. In that light, it begins to make sense.

 

[Da Boyz Mom]

... So basically they are being kicked out of their league because they are too dominant. Could the FCS use the same reasoning to get rid of NDSU and level the playing field for everyone else??? But seriously... How is this even a thing?

Here's an earlier article about the decision:
http://www.startribune.com/st-thoma...xt-after-being-kicked-out-of-miac/510270892/

I decided a quote a bunch of the article because it is quite interesting. I've have put a couple key points in bold.

… The league’s presidents had for weeks been considering an ouster of St. Thomas, a St. Paul school with an undergraduate enrollment of 6,199, about two times bigger than the next-­largest MIAC schools. Votes from nine of the league’s 13 schools would have been needed to oust St. Thomas, and school presidents this week apparently had the votes secured to make the move.
St. Thomas, St. John’s, St. Benedict and possibly Bethel were against the move, sources said. Sources also told the Star Tribune earlier this month that the presidents seeking to oust St. Thomas would push the MIAC to change its bylaws, instituting an enrollment cap.
… The effort to oust St. Thomas was conducted in secret, with officials of the MIAC and its other schools declining to comment.
… While the Tommies have won the MIAC’s men’s and women’s all-sports titles in each of the past 11 seasons, their football dominance rubbed some members the wrong way. Since Glenn Caruso took over as coach in 2008, the Tommies have won six conference titles and played in two NCAA Division III championship games. They routinely have blown out conference opponents, with nine MIAC victories by 50 or more points in the past two seasons.
The tipping point for many, a source told the Star Tribune, was the Tommies’ 97-0 romp at St. Olaf in 2017.
… Esten, a St. Thomas alumnus who took over his role in January, acknowledged that football gets the most attention but that the success of the Tommies’ entire athletic department prompted the MIAC’s decision.

This article and several others I saw said the bottom line became: "It's them or us." That is, the smaller schools would basically go off and form a new conference rather than stay in a MIAC that contained St. Thomas.

I had read some of this earlier, but none of what I saw mentioned how big the university was compared to the other schools in the conference. In that light, it begins to make sense.

It makes some sense and yet... If the Sky did this, we would have to boot several schools posthaste. Seems like sour grapes to me.

(Edited to add that I honestly had no idea of the vast disparities in enrollments between big sky schools. I was shocked once I looked it up.)