In January, 2008, Glenn Caruso became the 29th football coach in St. Thomas' history. He was taking over a storied DIII program that had spent many recent seasons in the basement of the MIAC. They had won an average of five games a year in the previous two decades.
Now Caruso, who is a six-time National Coach of the Year and has won an average of ten games a year since he took over, faces an even bigger challenge.
St. Thomas will be the first program in the modern era of college athletics to make the jump from Division III to Division I following the NCAA's announcement earlier this week. Normally, a program would transition over the course of several years from DIII, to DII, and eventually to DI for the 2021-22 athletic season. The Tommies will do it in one year from the announcement.
There are obvious challenges. Increased costs for travel and facilities being at the top of that list. But, for a football coach who has dominated at the DIII level, it's an entirely new world.
Caruso, who spoke with Dave Lee on the WCCO Morning News Friday, doesn't look at this as a challenge, but as an opportunity.
"It's an opportunity, certainly," said Caruso, who has taken the Tommies to two DIII National Championship appearances. "I don't want to downplay the question. You're right. I mean, we love, love the challenge, love the spirit of trying to strive for something that's unique. And this is unique. I mean, it's not every day that someone or someplace gets an opportunity like this. So we're pretty blessed."
The Tommies will play football in the Pioneer League. The Pioneer appears to be a good fit for a DIII team transitioning to DI because none of the member schools offer athletic scholarships, same as schools in DIII. The challenge comes due to the travel. The Pioneer is spread out all over the country. St. Thomas will now have to travel to New York, North Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, Iowa and Southern California. In the MIAC, their longest road trips were to Moorhead, MN.
There's also a new challenge in recruiting players to play at the Division I level. What was once a very local thing, is now on a national scale with where the team will be playing. There's also the step up in competition which will change how Caruso recruits. "It certainly is going to," Caruso told Dave Lee. "I mean, the national footprint is definitely different. I can tell you, from when it was announced that we'd have the chance to go division one and even before it became clear earlier this week, we got well over a thousand unsolicited correspondences from upcoming recruits, juniors and seniors. So I think what it does is it just allows for a bigger peak from which to share who we are."
Caruso also added that the identity of St. Thomas won't be changing. "We're not going to change who we are. I'm not going to bend on the type of young man we recruit. I think you know me well enough to know we're not going to bend on the type of young man that we're looking at, but it does allow us now to recruit coast-to-coast and border-to-border because the Pioneer is the only true national conference that there is. I'm not saying it's going to go toe-to-toe with the SEC. I'm not trying to say that. Let's not be crazy. I am saying if you're looking for a national footprint, the Pioneer is absolutely a beautiful fit for us to have."
There is also the news this week that the MIAC, where St. Thomas will still play the 2020 season, is cancelling all non-conference games. That means the September 5th game vs. Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and the September 12th game against Benedictine, Ill. are cancelled. Caruso says it'll definitely affect how they prepare for the season."I think it affects everybody's training schedule, and in the application of COVID over what we do is definitely going to be more of a factor than our progression up to Division I. That's just so difficult, right? What hurts my heart is just all the young men and women throughout all the sports that are having to adjust."
One thing that has made Caruso so successful is his purposeful attitude, and he's leaning on that through the tough times athletics are facing during the pandemic.
"I will say this, I'm a big believer in trying to find the positives, right? And there are going to be positive unintended consequences to this, and I'm not going to say it's a net win, and I'm not going to say, if we can go back to February, you'd want the same thing to happen. But I think one of the things that we all realize is the power and the importance of sport and getting together. And so as soon as we can do that, as soon as we can be together, as soon as we can work for a common goal, I'll be happy. But right now that will absolutely affect every school, not just the University of St. Thomas. And I think it should make us grateful for what we get the chance to do."