Drew Cove: Will St. Thomas' jump to D1 have any impact on the Gophers?

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Cove:


Minnesota finally has its second Division I football program.

The University of Minnesota no longer has a monopoly on Division I football in the state of Minnesota. It was ruled this week by the NCAA that the University of St. Thomas athletics programs found a conference for each of its sports, except for men’s hockey.

Now in the Pioneer League, the Tommies will travel to California, Florida and plenty of places in between. While the University of Minnesota is in the Football Bowl Subdivision and St. Thomas moves into the Football Championship Subdivision of Division I, they are still making an unprecedented leap from Division III directly to D1.

What does this mean for fan allegiances in the state?

Overall, it shouldn’t mean too much for those existing fanbases. St. Thomas’ enrollment is still far behind the University of Minnesota, and people who are currently both fans of St. Thomas and the Gophers will likely continue to support both programs.


This isn’t a “share of the pie” situation for local fans. Minnesota is a diehard football state even though amateur hockey and basketball are well supported here. Football is king, and for the foreseeable future, it’s going to remain that way. The addition of St. Thomas to Division I should only increase the overall number of invested football fans regionally.

Because of the difference between FCS and FBS subdivisions, the Gophers and Tommies will never be competing for the same championship. It would be easy to root for both teams simultaneously, as some UST fans undoubtedly do already — although a Gophers-Tommies matchup could prove an intriguing non-conference game to begin the season for both programs.

Unlike the Big 10, which consists mostly of Midwest schools, St. Thomas will be competing with programs in New York, Florida and California in addition to Midwest schools like Butler, Drake and Valparaiso.

bringmethenews.com

Will St. Thomas' jump to D1 have any impact on the Gophers?

Will it change the recruiting situations at all?
bringmethenews.com bringmethenews.com

Go Gophers!!
 



No.
They have more trouble filling their small stadium, excepting the St Johns game, than MN does for non conference games.
 

i hope we can use them as a trial team. if a standout gets noticed we can bring them over to the bigs

kind of like a JC but better as they will have some exposure to D!
 


Yeah can't imagine this affects MN to really any extent unless there are some middling guys we are looking at taking late in the cycle that elect to go to UST for the private aspect. Likely will be a very different caliber of athlete we're looking at, at least for the foreseeable future.
 


I think it will hurt like the previous poster said with preferred walk ons or heaven forbid we get someone under the radar who ends up a Tommie, Ends up flourishing and everyone will say “how did you miss that guy!” Also agree that it will hurt the Dakota schools more.
 

Thought - we don't know the long-term impact of covid on college sports. If the U of MN takes a big financial hit, budgets and programs could be scaled back.

So - in theory, let's say the powers-that-be tell Fleck that he has to cut back on the size of his roster.

That walk-on kid who dresses for home games might not be on the team any more, and that is the type of player who could wind up at St. Thomas.

As someone said, there are players, who for their own reasons, want to be part of a D1 program, even if they see limited playing time. St. Thomas can at least claim they are a D1 program.
 



PitinoFan said:
Zero impact on the Gophers, but potentially detrimental to the Dakotas from a recruiting standpoint.
Click to expand...
If one day, perhaps over a decade from now, UST gets into the Big East .... they could very legitimately have some amount of recruiting impact for men's bball, women's bball, and (women's) volleyball. Just as Marquette does for Wisc, and Creighton does for Neb.
 

As far as football, I actually see the reverse happening more often, especially if UST eventually goes to scholarship FCS football: more Gopher players who aren't getting playing time, but still want to stick around the area, will transfer to UST's team.
 

Plato said:
No.
They have more trouble filling their small stadium, excepting the St Johns game, than MN does for non conference games.
Click to expand...
Again, I definitely see the overall biggest potential for UST being the Big East angle, if they can get there one day.

Gaining a foothold, and ideally winning, the Summit is going to be no small task for them. The Dakota schools take a lot of pride in bball, and the conf tourny is out there.

If they can rise to that challenge, and get lucky, they could try to start climbing "the ladder" to the Big East from Summit to Horizona or Missouri Valley, then A10, then Big East. Or maybe skip over a rung.

They have the Catholic school and big market (potential) as their main cards to play.
 

As has been mentioned by others, should have almost zero impact on football but could have some impact on other sports.

In Football, if Big Ten teams are allowed to continue playing FCS teams it could make for a nice instate non-conf game for both squads.
 



I don't think it will have a measurable impact on fan allegiance. I do think it will be a positive for the U by having a local "rival" that can be brought in cheaply. A game against Saint Thomas probably would be a better draw then a game against #305 Cleveland State.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Cove:


Minnesota finally has its second Division I football program.

The University of Minnesota no longer has a monopoly on Division I football in the state of Minnesota. It was ruled this week by the NCAA that the University of St. Thomas athletics programs found a conference for each of its sports, except for men’s hockey.

Now in the Pioneer League, the Tommies will travel to California, Florida and plenty of places in between. While the University of Minnesota is in the Football Bowl Subdivision and St. Thomas moves into the Football Championship Subdivision of Division I, they are still making an unprecedented leap from Division III directly to D1.

What does this mean for fan allegiances in the state?

Overall, it shouldn’t mean too much for those existing fanbases. St. Thomas’ enrollment is still far behind the University of Minnesota, and people who are currently both fans of St. Thomas and the Gophers will likely continue to support both programs.


This isn’t a “share of the pie” situation for local fans. Minnesota is a diehard football state even though amateur hockey and basketball are well supported here. Football is king, and for the foreseeable future, it’s going to remain that way. The addition of St. Thomas to Division I should only increase the overall number of invested football fans regionally.

Because of the difference between FCS and FBS subdivisions, the Gophers and Tommies will never be competing for the same championship. It would be easy to root for both teams simultaneously, as some UST fans undoubtedly do already — although a Gophers-Tommies matchup could prove an intriguing non-conference game to begin the season for both programs.

Unlike the Big 10, which consists mostly of Midwest schools, St. Thomas will be competing with programs in New York, Florida and California in addition to Midwest schools like Butler, Drake and Valparaiso.

bringmethenews.com

Will St. Thomas' jump to D1 have any impact on the Gophers?

Will it change the recruiting situations at all?
bringmethenews.com bringmethenews.com

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
who the hell is Drew Cove?
 

The Pioneer League have "non-scholarship" athletes. It is possible that the PWOs for the Gophers will be impacted. How it will impact NDSU, SDSU is that players have an option to stay in the metro area. If the financial aid package is more generous, some players may rather opt for a school in the Twin Cities where there is a lot of opportunity for things to do outside of football than in Fargo/Moorehead.
 

although a Gophers-Tommies matchup could prove an intriguing non-conference game to begin the season for both program
Click to expand...

Maybe for other sports but not for football.
 

Plato said:
No.
They have more trouble filling their small stadium, excepting the St Johns game, than MN does for non conference games.
Click to expand...
UST will have 40,000 Summit alums to help fill their stadium and arenas.
 

4four4 said:
UST will have 40,000 Summit alums to help fill their stadium and arenas.
Click to expand...
Last i checked we have a really tough time drawing fans. That is why we built a small stadium. If we had 50,000 season ticket holders we would have built a 75, 000 seat stadium.
 


4four4 said:
UST will have 40,000 Summit alums to help fill their stadium and arenas.
Click to expand...
Summit does not have football. Drake draws about 2,000 fans a game for football in the Pioneer conference for a good comparison.
 

FredCoxRocks said:
Shouldn't this thread be moved over to TommyHole.com?
Click to expand...
I always forget that when someone starts a new thread, every GH member is forced to read it before they can view other threads.

That is an odd feature of the new board. They should get rid of it.
 


100% the Gophers will play St. Thomas in women's hockey, obviously. And potentially could lose a marginal recruit or two.

Likely there will be times where men's hockey will play St. Thomas. And potentially could lose a marginal recruit.

Almost 100% certainly the Gophers will host St. Thomas in baseball, softball, cross country/track, etc., the same way they do NDSU, SDSU, USD, UND, etc. Potentially could lose a marginal recruit or two.

Likely the Gophers will host St. Thomas in men's basketball and women's basketball the way they have NDSU, SDSU, USD, UND, etc. No impact on recruiting. No one that has a Gopher offer will go to St. Thomas instead (in the short term especially).

Football will not have any impact on the schedule or high end recruiting. As mentioned, walk-on situation could be a target, but not often.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
Thought - we don't know the long-term impact of covid on college sports. If the U of MN takes a big financial hit, budgets and programs could be scaled back.

So - in theory, let's say the powers-that-be tell Fleck that he has to cut back on the size of his roster.

That walk-on kid who dresses for home games might not be on the team any more, and that is the type of player who could wind up at St. Thomas.

As someone said, there are players, who for their own reasons, want to be part of a D1 program, even if they see limited playing time. St. Thomas can at least claim they are a D1 program.
Click to expand...

So, a kid is going to walk-on with a possibility of scholarship at Minnesota for $14K or walk on with NO possibly of scholarship at St. Thomas for $42K?

That will have nothing to do with it?
 
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highwayman said:
So, a kid is going to walk-on with a possibility of scholarship at Minnesota for $14K or walk on with NO possibly of scholarship at St. Thomas for $26K?

That will have nothing to do with it?
Click to expand...
St. Thomas tuition is $42,000 now.
 

MplsGopher said:
Again, I definitely see the overall biggest potential for UST being the Big East angle, if they can get there one day.

Gaining a foothold, and ideally winning, the Summit is going to be no small task for them. The Dakota schools take a lot of pride in bball, and the conf tourny is out there.

If they can rise to that challenge, and get lucky, they could try to start climbing "the ladder" to the Big East from Summit to Horizona or Missouri Valley, then A10, then Big East. Or maybe skip over a rung.

They have the Catholic school and big market (potential) as their main cards to play.
Click to expand...
Summit>Horizon, and gaining on the 1-bid MVC. Could you get a current Summit team to leave for the MVC? Most would not want to Asso with MVC privates, true UST might be the exception to that. If UST stays in the Summit for the next 5 years and BB budgets grow, MVC might not be the next step.
 

Herd said:
Summit>Horizon, and gaining on the 1-bid MVC. Could you get a current Summit team to leave for the MVC? Most would not want to Asso with MVC privates, true UST might be the exception to that. If UST stays in the Summit for the next 5 years and BB budgets grow, MVC might not be the next step.
Click to expand...
Summit = Horizon I buy. Even though Oakland, Indy, and Fort Wayne all left the Summit for the Horizon recently, that was more for geography.

MVC I still say is a step or half-step above. Loyola and Valpo moving over from the Horizon, would signal that they thought it was a more desirable spot.

With Creighton and Wichita gone, it's probably tough to think of MVC at the top of the mid-majors anymore.
 

Word said:
St. Thomas tuition is $42,000 now.
Click to expand...
Fixed it. Yeah, I didn't see it was "per semester". I don't see any players walking on at UST if they get a walk-on offer from UofM. Nobody will pay 3X for no shot at a schollie. They may walk on at UST for something to fill their time...
 

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