The NCAA Division I council voted in favor of reducing the provisional period for reclassifying Division I schools by one year on Jan. 15.
This allows St. Thomas athletics to be eligible for NCAA tournament play starting in fall 2025. The NCAA also adopted new criteria for reclassifying schools that must be met.
“The Strategic Vision and Planning Committee has detailed a modernized approach to reclassification and St. Thomas is both appreciative for their deliberate approach and optimistic about our bright future,” Director of Athletics Phil Esten wrote in a statement, “This gives the Tommies a national stage on which we will continue our pursuit of comprehensive excellence while providing student-athletes with a transformative experience.”
In order to reach the full Division I status, the university must meet the new criteria laid out by the SVCP and submit them to the NCAA by June, according to Esten.
“We’ve got a pathway, but we’ve still got some work to do,” Esten said.
The requirements include an academic review to ensure that the university meets the laid-out requirements. St. Thomas is also currently conducting a mandatory self-study.
“The self-study is conducted on campus primarily outside of athletics. There are three primary review areas,” Esten said, “One is around academic success, another is around diversity, equity and inclusion and student-athlete welfare. The third is around governance and compliance.”
In addition, the university must agree to and comply with the NCAA’s core guarantees and attestations, which are primarily about the health, safety and well-being of student-athletes.
Further criteria include “new financial aid requirements, such as a scholarship offering that exceeds the 10th percentile of active Division I members,” according to the NCAA’s press release. Esten said he is confident the school can meet this mark.
Esten said that the biggest part of the transition that some people may not understand, is the work that has been taken on by the athletic department.
“I don’t know if there’s a full comprehension of what’s been done to get to this point,” Esten said.
He also pointed out the job growth that has come from the school’s leap to Division I.
“At the Division III level, you don’t need as many full-time staff. You have a lot of part-time staff. So, the number of people working at athletics has changed a little bit, not a lot. But, the number of full-time staff has changed quite a bit,” Esten said.
He said the department has doubled its athletic trainers, created a new marketing department and went from one sports information director to four communication professionals.
“I still think that we have some room to add resources to support our students. Whether that’s in revenue generation or student-athlete support services, ultimately this enterprise that is Division I athletics requires a business model to support it,” Esten said.
The ability to play in the postseason would also give the university the chance to grow its national brand and introduce itself to prospective students nationwide. The journey to this point has also been an added recruiting bonus that the coaches can now use to attract student-athletes.
“All of a sudden you’re on PTI and SportsCenter and those kinds of things that definitely help right?” football coach Glenn Caruso said. “Some of that was probably facilitated by the fact that there were a lot of eyeballs that were on our transition at that point.”
So far, the hindrance of being barred from postseason play during this provisional period has only affected two team sports. The Tommie football team was kept out of the FCS playoffs after winning the Pioneer Football League in 2022. The baseball team was ineligible for the Summit League Championship tournament in 2024.
“We now have the opportunity to play for and compete for a postseason championship opportunity –we keep score for a reason– and ultimately one of those is to compete for championships,” Esten said.
The potential first full-fledged year of being a D-I school will come alongside the completion of Lee and Penny Anderson Arena for the basketball and hockey programs.
“There are some synergies in the new arena opening next year and potentially being off the provisional period next year. I think that gives us all the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel in that everything that we’ve been building, everything that we’ve been preparing, everything that we’ve been doing for the last three-and-a-half years,” Esten said.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.
