I was told last week by three different St. Thomas athletes in lower profile sports that their coaches believe getting the boot from the MIAC is inevitable, but for them not to worry since the transition would not come until after they graduate. Their understanding is that only St. John's and St. Ben's are on board for sure in keeping UST in. Most interesting point they made was the attractiveness of St. Thomas for D-III athletes is the limited travel time because of the proximity of the other schools. All of them said they might rethink playing college sports if they had what they considered to be constant burdensome road trips. This sounds like young people who are academics first and sports a distant second, which is what D-III is supposed to be.
I do find the whole thing quite petty. Does anyone really think having games on 'CCO is a massive recruiting advantage? I would agree that their enrollment and location do give them an advantage, but if you kick them out, that advantage will go somewhere else. As a few others have said, I think the MIAC hurts itself if it does this. I am virtually certain few if anyone in decision making authority at St. Thomas wants this to happen and have to deal with a transition.
I do find the whole thing quite petty. Does anyone really think having games on 'CCO is a massive recruiting advantage? I would agree that their enrollment and location do give them an advantage, but if you kick them out, that advantage will go somewhere else. As a few others have said, I think the MIAC hurts itself if it does this. I am virtually certain few if anyone in decision making authority at St. Thomas wants this to happen and have to deal with a transition.