Post by kevinudm on Oct 4, 2019 13:10:14 GMT -6
University of St. Thomas has accepted an offer to join the Summit League in 2021.
It's an unprecedented move as St. Thomas is currently D3. They've requested a waiver from the NCAA to skip the transition to D2, normally a 12 year process, and go straight to D1. If approved, they will also need to find affiliate conferences for football and hockey.
St. Thomas is a longtime D3 powerhouse with national championships in basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse and other sports. But on May 22, 2019 it was announced that St. Thomas was "involuntarily removed" from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) because they had become too successful.
This could be a good move for the Summit, at least in the long run (St. Thomas won't become full fledged D1 before 2025). St. Thomas is a private Catholic university with an enrollment of 10,000 and an endowment of $500 million. They will join the Minnesota Gophers as one of just two D1 programs in the state of Minnesota, other than a few D1 hockey-only schools.
I know nothing about NCAA waivers for classification changes. But in this case it would seem like the waiver is likely, or else the Summit and St. Thomas have really gone out on a limb with this announcement.
This move further cements the geographic distinction between the Summit and Horizon leagues, with the Summit largely in the Great Plains and the HL in the Midwest.
It's an unprecedented move as St. Thomas is currently D3. They've requested a waiver from the NCAA to skip the transition to D2, normally a 12 year process, and go straight to D1. If approved, they will also need to find affiliate conferences for football and hockey.
St. Thomas is a longtime D3 powerhouse with national championships in basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse and other sports. But on May 22, 2019 it was announced that St. Thomas was "involuntarily removed" from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) because they had become too successful.
This could be a good move for the Summit, at least in the long run (St. Thomas won't become full fledged D1 before 2025). St. Thomas is a private Catholic university with an enrollment of 10,000 and an endowment of $500 million. They will join the Minnesota Gophers as one of just two D1 programs in the state of Minnesota, other than a few D1 hockey-only schools.
I know nothing about NCAA waivers for classification changes. But in this case it would seem like the waiver is likely, or else the Summit and St. Thomas have really gone out on a limb with this announcement.
This move further cements the geographic distinction between the Summit and Horizon leagues, with the Summit largely in the Great Plains and the HL in the Midwest.
