Taken from another board..tweet from Twin Cities media personality:

@Patrick_Reusse
7m7 minutes ago
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My gut feeling (it’s quite a gut):
Tommies wind up in WIAC, giving it 9 teams — and 6 in hockey. Still room for 2 NC games in FB: Johnnies and one patsy.
MIAC will have 3 games to fill, unless Mac returns in football, which it currently doesn’t prefer.

This would be safe for St. Thomas. It allows them to remain in D-III while joining a nearby conference with bigger budgets. WIAC would expand out of state with a private school.

My alma mater shared a conference with DIII powerhouse Mt Union--I know the pain of having an 800 lb gorilla in my house. We usually got bludgeoned 70-0 when I went there. The back ups were all in by the 2nd quarter.

I could see Coastal getting kicked out of the sun belt in the future.

(05-22-2019 08:16 PM)CoastalVANDAL Wrote:  I could see Coastal getting kicked out of the sun belt in the future.

Why? The eastern schools all vouched for them. if ULM gets to have a free pass despite their small enrollment and athletic budget, so should Coastal.

(05-22-2019 08:16 PM)CoastalVANDAL Wrote:  I could see Coastal getting kicked out of the sun belt in the future.

What does this have to do with the Tommies and their future?

Here's a quote from the St. Paul Pioneer Press:
The Tommies can compete in the MIAC through spring 2021, but can leave earlier if they find a conference or decide to become an independent. (UST-AD) Esten said “all options are on the table” for the Tommies. That includes staying Division III or moving up to Division II.
https://www.twincities.com/2019/05/22/st...niversity/

I assume the reporter heard that from the AD. That's the 1st time I've read anything other than UST staying D3.

Another quote:
“Keep in mind, we have to be invited into a conference; it’s not up to us,” Esten said. “I think we’re an attractive candidate... However, all options are on the table. We need to identify what would be the best fit and then try to secure an invitation.”
https://www.twincities.com/2019/05/22/wh...the-table/

The NCIS would be a solid option - they could play with the Minnesota state schools instead of the Wisconsin ones. Would probably help their exposure within the state, but it would likely kill Tommy-Johnny

a catholic school in Minneapolis/St. Paul metro? Bring them to the BE !

This is an interesting chart from the St. Paul Pioneer-Press:

The Pioneer Press looked at the total number of championships or co-championships in eight of the MIAC’s biggest sports over the past 10 seasons (baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, football, men’s and women’s hockey, softball and volleyball). Here are the number of titles won by each MIAC school:

St. Thomas 57
Gustavus Adolphus 15
Bethel 6
St. John’s 6
Augsburg 5
Concordia (Moorhead) 2
St. Benedict 2
Carleton 1
Hamline 1
Macalester 1
St. Mary’s 1
St. Olaf 1
St. Catherine: 0

On the MIAC website announcing the decision, they included a link to supplemental information which includes this:

Competition
- The University of St. Thomas has won 12 straight men’s and women’s MIAC All-Sports Awards (2008-2019).
- The University of St. Thomas won 47% (155) of all MIAC Championships (both team and individual sports) awarded from 2003-
2018. Over the last five years (2013-18), UST won 62 MIAC Championships (56%).
- The University of St. Thomas earned 32% (67 of 210) of the MIAC’s Automatic Qualifiers to the NCAA Postseason (playoff
champion, plus football regular season champion) from 2003-2018. UST earned 25 AQs (36%) in the last five years (2013-18).

If they go to D2? Which D1 conference would their men and women's hockey go to?

(05-23-2019 09:16 PM)DavidSt Wrote:  If they go to D2? Which D1 conference would their men and women's hockey go to?

WCHA seems likely, playing against Bemidji and Mankato. They have 10 men's teams.
I saw a tweet that the WCHA commissioner in a radio interview expressed openness to Arizona State. It would be easy to bring in UST as a 12th.