University of St. Thomas Athletics
New conferences and new opponents comprised St. Thomas schedules in 2021-22
Gene's Blog: Did all this really happen here in 2021?
12/31/2021 3:57:00 PM | Gene's Blog
The Oxford Dictionary has announced its 2021 Word of the Year: "Vax."
I think that's either a villain from the latest Spider-Man movie, or a shortened word for vaccine.
University of St. Thomas Athletics is also out with its 2021 Word of the Year: "DATAHODIDI."
No, it's still not a villain from the latest Spider-Man movie. It's an acronym that spells out: "Did All This Actually Happen, Or Did I Dream It?"
How unusual was this last calendar year here at Summit and Cretin Avenues? Here's one example: The ballot for FCS Football National Coach of the Year included Glenn Caruso... along with "Neon" Deion Sanders.
And that was one of St. Thomas' more normal headlines.
In 2020 we learned that life gets downright weird during a worldwide pandemic. While 2021 in the shadow of Covid eventually saw a return to daily routines, these last 12 months produced plenty of stress and uncertainty while continuing to take an emotional and financial toll.
The 2021 calendar included a rare Olympic Games contested in an odd-number year, so it was fitting that Tommie Athletics added a degree of difficulty on top of its Covid protocols: St. Thomas traded its familiar NCAA Division III world and last summer officially started its bold reclassification journey as the nation's 358th member of NCAA Division I.
We said farewell to a statewide conference that our forefathers helped create 100 years ago. We joined four conferences that span from San Diego to Sioux Falls to Sault Ste. Marie to Columbus to Poughkeepsie.
Can you imagine even just three years ago talking about the Tommies preparing to play the likes of Ohio State, Gonzaga, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Yale? But it's our new normal.
As we exit 2021, here are 21 things that actually did happen in Tommie Athletics over the last 12 lively and historic months:
1. Over an eight-year span from 2013-2020, St. Thomas added just four new head coaches for its 22 sports. Then during the 2021 calendar year alone, Tommie VP and Director of Athletics Phil Esten hired six new head coaches. One of those was Men's Hockey's Rico Blasi, who previously won 398 D-I games in 20 seasons as coach at Miami (Ohio). Another was Women's Hockey's Joel Johnson, who was selected to coach the U.S. Women's National team in the Beijing Olympics.
2. Our fans will need Wikipedia to learn more about some of the opponents and many of the new mascots we will face. We said goodbye to the familiar Oles, Gusties, Johnnies, Bennies, Auggies, Cobbers, Pipers, Royals, Knights, Wildcats and Cardinals and this school year alone we'll rub shoulders with Coyotes, Kangaroos, Penguins, Jackrabbits, Cyclones, Gophers, Hatters, Spiders, Owls, Sun Devils, Huskers, Ramblers, Rajin' Cajuns, Cowgirls, Muskateers, Purple Aces, Boilermakers, Buckeyes, Badgers, Billikens, Blue Hose, Blue Hens, Bison, Bulldogs and Beavers.
3. For the 44th consecutive calendar year, at least one Tommie Track and Field or Cross Country team won a conference team title. When the St. Thomas men and women swept the MIAC track and field outdoor crowns last May, it was Coach Joe Sweeney's 86th MIAC women's team championship for track/CC, and men's victory No. 45 of a possible 50 in indoor/outdoor track under Coach Steve Mathre.
4. Our soccer and volleyball teams played abbreviated 2020-21 Covid seasons last spring. Both soccer teams set records for warmest Senior Day ceremonies, on May 1, with 80-plus degree temperatures creating a South Field sauna. Men's Soccer's spring season extended past Cinco de Mayo. Women's Soccer closed its spring season the same day of the Kentucky Derby, then wrapped up its fall season on Halloween.
5. Jon Lowery had a year he won't forget in his personal return to Division I after his playing days as an Ohio State goalkeeper and later as assistant coach for national champion Wake Forest. Lowery's first two D-I trips with the Tommies were exhibition games at Wisconsin and Notre Dame. His Toms played nine of their first 13 contests away from St. Paul, and took eight losses by one or two goals during an 0-11-2 start. Then St. Thomas erupted to win its final three games. The Toms will go into 2022 tied with Harvard with the second longest D-I men's soccer winning streak at three.
6. In all more than 30 new employees joined Tommie Athletics during 2021. I was discussing this new wealth of talent -- and our sudden lack of office space -- while sitting with new colleague Travis in the department's break room. To be specific, it wasn't Travis L. of Communications, this was Travis H. of Game-Day Operations. Travis H. politely pointed out that what I called our break room was now his office, but he said he was cool letting me use his microwave. That was awkward.
7. Covid issues canceled several FBS bowl games. But it was St. Thomas Football that made national headlines last August by having NCAA football's first game of fall 2021 called off. Covid issues forced our opening opponent to cancel our Sept. 4 meeting at O'Shaughnessy Stadium. That delayed by one week the Tommies' FCS debut and pushed back by three weeks our first FCS home game.
8. There are exciting elements to our D-I experience that will only grow stronger. Watching so many of our road games live on ESPN Plus, Big Ten Plus or Flo Sports is pretty cool. And for the first time in school history, Tommie Men's Hockey games are airing live on Twin Cities radio -- AM 1500 Skor North. During the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s, St. Paul's WMIN Radio at 1370 and later 1400 AM called St. Thomas football and basketball games. Now 70 years later, Tommie Men's Basketball games are available on live radio again, on AM 1500.
9. St. Thomas had four spring 2021 teams record top-10 national team finishes in their final D-III seasons. Two of them -- Softball and Men's Golf -- didn't win their conference titles but rebounded during the postseason. At the national tournaments, Baseball placed second nationally; Softball tied for fifth; Men's Golf placed 10th; and Women's Tennis tied for ninth.
10. Tommie Baseball bookended its MIAC era as it won the 2021 league championship to go with the inaugural conference title it captured in 1920. Covid protocols last spring made each week an adventure on the scheduling front. Believe it or not, due to two postseason tournaments, St. Thomas played as many games on the turf field of rival St. John's (12) than it did on its home Koch Diamond field (12).
11. Kierstin Anderson-Glass was a "Covid senior" in an old-school way as her Tommie softball career spanned six seasons. An All-America and multiple CoSIDA Academic All-America pitcher, Anderson-Glass led 2021 Tommie Softball to the program's third College World Series trip. She was a freshman in 2016 when she guided the Purple to the eight-team national tournament. After two seasons off while recovering from a severe concussion, the player known as "Hoover" led St. Thomas to a second CWS trip in 2019. Covid erased the 2020 season. Before graduating in May 2021 she led her third Tommie team to nationals in a career that produced 74 career wins, 533 career strikeouts and a 23-5 record in postseason starts. Kierstin pitched in the D-III College World Series under three different presidential administrations -- Obama's, Trump's and Biden's. It was rewarding for me to serve as Hoover's press secretary.
12. Baseball ranked second among all 877 NCAA teams in sacrifice bunts, with 58 in 47 games, and made no apologies. The Purple also ranked in D-III's top 10 in earned-run average (2.68), fielding percentage (.975) and strikeouts per nine innings. With only one error in 181 chances at second base, Sam Kulesa was one of just 27 NCAA players at all levels to receive a Rawlings Gold Glove award. The Toms ranked just 233rd in D-III in runs scored and 269th in slugging percentage yet finished 37-10, including a 32-0 record in games when they scored four or more runs. Their 11-5 postseason record included two walk-off wins and seven other comeback victories.
13. It appears that one casualty of our move into Division I athletics will be the end of head-to-head Tommie-Johnnie games. The 2020 and 2021 calendar years marked the first times since 1951 without a T-J football meeting. The arch rivals met 12 times in traditional team sports during 2021 with St. Thomas posting an 8-2-2 record. That included a 5-0 record in contests in Collegeville, and a 3-0 mark on the Tommie campus. Baseball's 3-2 record against SJU included two one-run defeats in US Bank Stadium but a sweep of a three-game league series.
14. In year one of D-I play, Tommie Men's Basketball under Coach Johnny Tauer is ranked near the top of Division I in three-point baskets and fewest turnovers. The Toms were picked for 10th in the 10-team Summit League but have built a 7-7 record so far with four wins away from campus. The Toms are already getting outside respect as they roll with D-III players leading an eight-man rotation. Sports Illustrated's preseason ranking of all 358 Division I men's teams put the Tommies at No. 274. And the Purple's Class of 2022 recruits put St. Thomas at a No. 54 ranking by Rivals and a No. 57 rank by 247 Sports.
15. Men's Cross Country has had the best team finish thus far in year one of D-I competition. Picked for fifth place in the preseason coaches' poll, St. Thomas stormed to second-place in the Summit League Championships. Coach Pete Wareham's team made school history at the Bradley meet in October when it put five runners under 25:00 for 8,000 meters (4.97 miles). The Toms finished closely behind two Big Ten teams that day with their top five runners finishing within 17 seconds.
16. February through May produced a string of impressive Tommie win streaks. Women's Soccer went 5-0 on its spring season and outscored opponents 16-0. Men's Basketball went 7-0 and closed No. 2 nationally. Softball won nine in a row, most coming in a postseason stretch. Baseball won 13 in a row including 12 to end the regular season. Women's Tennis topped them all with 14 consecutive victories, and the Purple swept the MIAC regular-season and playoff crowns, the program's first conference regular-season title since 1991.
17. St. Thomas will face many new opponents, both in non-conference and conference play. It could get confusing on the field if the Toms ever face the Bears of Central Arkansas. They are Division I's only two universities with Purple and Grey as their official school colors.
18. John Tschida had a remarkable 21-season coaching run leading Tommie Softball. He decided against staying for the Division I transition to return to his alma mater St. Mary's and remain a D-III head coach. His 21-year era with the Tommies included 803 wins; two NCAA team crowns and six other College World Series appearances. He also led the Toms to 15 of a possible 17 MIAC playoff titles and 16 regular-season championships.
19. St. Thomas has been fortunate to have the services of several exceptional assistant coaches over the years. One of the best has been track and field throws coach Pat Ahern, who closed his career here last May. Two of his 2021 throwers, Berit Borstad (hammer) and Megan Gehrke (shot put), broke school records and made All-America in 2021. Gerhke went on to place second in the NCAA meet. As a Tommie student-athlete in the early 1990s, Ahern was a four-time NCAA champ and two-time national runner-up. He still holds three school records.
20. If you are wondering, Glenn Caruso finished ninth in the FCS Coach of the Year voting and did receive two first-place votes. "Neon" Deion Sanders of Jackson State was the national winner, led by nine first-place votes. St. Thomas' 7-3 record in year one of FCS play included a third-place tie in the 11-team Pioneer Football League with a 6-2 record. St. Thomas led all 258 D-I programs in both interceptions per game at 2.2 and total takeaways (fumbles, interceptions) at 2.7. The Tommie defense allowed just 59 points in the team's seven wins.
21. Call it Cretin Avenue Karma: Coaches Chris Olean (12-0 Koch Diamond) and Caruso (4-0 Palmer Field) saw their baseball and football teams finish a combined 16-0 at home during 2021, all on adjacent north-campus fields. And back on May 21, in the same location, nearly 1,500 Tommies had even better walk-off wins. Those individuals left O'Shaughnessy Stadium on Commencement Day with their undergraduate diplomas.
In a calendar year that will be remembered for so much change, hats off to these 2021 grads who are ready to change the world.
I think that's either a villain from the latest Spider-Man movie, or a shortened word for vaccine.
University of St. Thomas Athletics is also out with its 2021 Word of the Year: "DATAHODIDI."
No, it's still not a villain from the latest Spider-Man movie. It's an acronym that spells out: "Did All This Actually Happen, Or Did I Dream It?"
How unusual was this last calendar year here at Summit and Cretin Avenues? Here's one example: The ballot for FCS Football National Coach of the Year included Glenn Caruso... along with "Neon" Deion Sanders.
And that was one of St. Thomas' more normal headlines.
In 2020 we learned that life gets downright weird during a worldwide pandemic. While 2021 in the shadow of Covid eventually saw a return to daily routines, these last 12 months produced plenty of stress and uncertainty while continuing to take an emotional and financial toll.
The 2021 calendar included a rare Olympic Games contested in an odd-number year, so it was fitting that Tommie Athletics added a degree of difficulty on top of its Covid protocols: St. Thomas traded its familiar NCAA Division III world and last summer officially started its bold reclassification journey as the nation's 358th member of NCAA Division I.
We said farewell to a statewide conference that our forefathers helped create 100 years ago. We joined four conferences that span from San Diego to Sioux Falls to Sault Ste. Marie to Columbus to Poughkeepsie.
Can you imagine even just three years ago talking about the Tommies preparing to play the likes of Ohio State, Gonzaga, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Yale? But it's our new normal.
As we exit 2021, here are 21 things that actually did happen in Tommie Athletics over the last 12 lively and historic months:
1. Over an eight-year span from 2013-2020, St. Thomas added just four new head coaches for its 22 sports. Then during the 2021 calendar year alone, Tommie VP and Director of Athletics Phil Esten hired six new head coaches. One of those was Men's Hockey's Rico Blasi, who previously won 398 D-I games in 20 seasons as coach at Miami (Ohio). Another was Women's Hockey's Joel Johnson, who was selected to coach the U.S. Women's National team in the Beijing Olympics.
2. Our fans will need Wikipedia to learn more about some of the opponents and many of the new mascots we will face. We said goodbye to the familiar Oles, Gusties, Johnnies, Bennies, Auggies, Cobbers, Pipers, Royals, Knights, Wildcats and Cardinals and this school year alone we'll rub shoulders with Coyotes, Kangaroos, Penguins, Jackrabbits, Cyclones, Gophers, Hatters, Spiders, Owls, Sun Devils, Huskers, Ramblers, Rajin' Cajuns, Cowgirls, Muskateers, Purple Aces, Boilermakers, Buckeyes, Badgers, Billikens, Blue Hose, Blue Hens, Bison, Bulldogs and Beavers.
3. For the 44th consecutive calendar year, at least one Tommie Track and Field or Cross Country team won a conference team title. When the St. Thomas men and women swept the MIAC track and field outdoor crowns last May, it was Coach Joe Sweeney's 86th MIAC women's team championship for track/CC, and men's victory No. 45 of a possible 50 in indoor/outdoor track under Coach Steve Mathre.
4. Our soccer and volleyball teams played abbreviated 2020-21 Covid seasons last spring. Both soccer teams set records for warmest Senior Day ceremonies, on May 1, with 80-plus degree temperatures creating a South Field sauna. Men's Soccer's spring season extended past Cinco de Mayo. Women's Soccer closed its spring season the same day of the Kentucky Derby, then wrapped up its fall season on Halloween.
5. Jon Lowery had a year he won't forget in his personal return to Division I after his playing days as an Ohio State goalkeeper and later as assistant coach for national champion Wake Forest. Lowery's first two D-I trips with the Tommies were exhibition games at Wisconsin and Notre Dame. His Toms played nine of their first 13 contests away from St. Paul, and took eight losses by one or two goals during an 0-11-2 start. Then St. Thomas erupted to win its final three games. The Toms will go into 2022 tied with Harvard with the second longest D-I men's soccer winning streak at three.
6. In all more than 30 new employees joined Tommie Athletics during 2021. I was discussing this new wealth of talent -- and our sudden lack of office space -- while sitting with new colleague Travis in the department's break room. To be specific, it wasn't Travis L. of Communications, this was Travis H. of Game-Day Operations. Travis H. politely pointed out that what I called our break room was now his office, but he said he was cool letting me use his microwave. That was awkward.
7. Covid issues canceled several FBS bowl games. But it was St. Thomas Football that made national headlines last August by having NCAA football's first game of fall 2021 called off. Covid issues forced our opening opponent to cancel our Sept. 4 meeting at O'Shaughnessy Stadium. That delayed by one week the Tommies' FCS debut and pushed back by three weeks our first FCS home game.
8. There are exciting elements to our D-I experience that will only grow stronger. Watching so many of our road games live on ESPN Plus, Big Ten Plus or Flo Sports is pretty cool. And for the first time in school history, Tommie Men's Hockey games are airing live on Twin Cities radio -- AM 1500 Skor North. During the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s, St. Paul's WMIN Radio at 1370 and later 1400 AM called St. Thomas football and basketball games. Now 70 years later, Tommie Men's Basketball games are available on live radio again, on AM 1500.
9. St. Thomas had four spring 2021 teams record top-10 national team finishes in their final D-III seasons. Two of them -- Softball and Men's Golf -- didn't win their conference titles but rebounded during the postseason. At the national tournaments, Baseball placed second nationally; Softball tied for fifth; Men's Golf placed 10th; and Women's Tennis tied for ninth.
10. Tommie Baseball bookended its MIAC era as it won the 2021 league championship to go with the inaugural conference title it captured in 1920. Covid protocols last spring made each week an adventure on the scheduling front. Believe it or not, due to two postseason tournaments, St. Thomas played as many games on the turf field of rival St. John's (12) than it did on its home Koch Diamond field (12).
11. Kierstin Anderson-Glass was a "Covid senior" in an old-school way as her Tommie softball career spanned six seasons. An All-America and multiple CoSIDA Academic All-America pitcher, Anderson-Glass led 2021 Tommie Softball to the program's third College World Series trip. She was a freshman in 2016 when she guided the Purple to the eight-team national tournament. After two seasons off while recovering from a severe concussion, the player known as "Hoover" led St. Thomas to a second CWS trip in 2019. Covid erased the 2020 season. Before graduating in May 2021 she led her third Tommie team to nationals in a career that produced 74 career wins, 533 career strikeouts and a 23-5 record in postseason starts. Kierstin pitched in the D-III College World Series under three different presidential administrations -- Obama's, Trump's and Biden's. It was rewarding for me to serve as Hoover's press secretary.
12. Baseball ranked second among all 877 NCAA teams in sacrifice bunts, with 58 in 47 games, and made no apologies. The Purple also ranked in D-III's top 10 in earned-run average (2.68), fielding percentage (.975) and strikeouts per nine innings. With only one error in 181 chances at second base, Sam Kulesa was one of just 27 NCAA players at all levels to receive a Rawlings Gold Glove award. The Toms ranked just 233rd in D-III in runs scored and 269th in slugging percentage yet finished 37-10, including a 32-0 record in games when they scored four or more runs. Their 11-5 postseason record included two walk-off wins and seven other comeback victories.
13. It appears that one casualty of our move into Division I athletics will be the end of head-to-head Tommie-Johnnie games. The 2020 and 2021 calendar years marked the first times since 1951 without a T-J football meeting. The arch rivals met 12 times in traditional team sports during 2021 with St. Thomas posting an 8-2-2 record. That included a 5-0 record in contests in Collegeville, and a 3-0 mark on the Tommie campus. Baseball's 3-2 record against SJU included two one-run defeats in US Bank Stadium but a sweep of a three-game league series.
14. In year one of D-I play, Tommie Men's Basketball under Coach Johnny Tauer is ranked near the top of Division I in three-point baskets and fewest turnovers. The Toms were picked for 10th in the 10-team Summit League but have built a 7-7 record so far with four wins away from campus. The Toms are already getting outside respect as they roll with D-III players leading an eight-man rotation. Sports Illustrated's preseason ranking of all 358 Division I men's teams put the Tommies at No. 274. And the Purple's Class of 2022 recruits put St. Thomas at a No. 54 ranking by Rivals and a No. 57 rank by 247 Sports.
15. Men's Cross Country has had the best team finish thus far in year one of D-I competition. Picked for fifth place in the preseason coaches' poll, St. Thomas stormed to second-place in the Summit League Championships. Coach Pete Wareham's team made school history at the Bradley meet in October when it put five runners under 25:00 for 8,000 meters (4.97 miles). The Toms finished closely behind two Big Ten teams that day with their top five runners finishing within 17 seconds.
16. February through May produced a string of impressive Tommie win streaks. Women's Soccer went 5-0 on its spring season and outscored opponents 16-0. Men's Basketball went 7-0 and closed No. 2 nationally. Softball won nine in a row, most coming in a postseason stretch. Baseball won 13 in a row including 12 to end the regular season. Women's Tennis topped them all with 14 consecutive victories, and the Purple swept the MIAC regular-season and playoff crowns, the program's first conference regular-season title since 1991.
17. St. Thomas will face many new opponents, both in non-conference and conference play. It could get confusing on the field if the Toms ever face the Bears of Central Arkansas. They are Division I's only two universities with Purple and Grey as their official school colors.
18. John Tschida had a remarkable 21-season coaching run leading Tommie Softball. He decided against staying for the Division I transition to return to his alma mater St. Mary's and remain a D-III head coach. His 21-year era with the Tommies included 803 wins; two NCAA team crowns and six other College World Series appearances. He also led the Toms to 15 of a possible 17 MIAC playoff titles and 16 regular-season championships.
19. St. Thomas has been fortunate to have the services of several exceptional assistant coaches over the years. One of the best has been track and field throws coach Pat Ahern, who closed his career here last May. Two of his 2021 throwers, Berit Borstad (hammer) and Megan Gehrke (shot put), broke school records and made All-America in 2021. Gerhke went on to place second in the NCAA meet. As a Tommie student-athlete in the early 1990s, Ahern was a four-time NCAA champ and two-time national runner-up. He still holds three school records.
20. If you are wondering, Glenn Caruso finished ninth in the FCS Coach of the Year voting and did receive two first-place votes. "Neon" Deion Sanders of Jackson State was the national winner, led by nine first-place votes. St. Thomas' 7-3 record in year one of FCS play included a third-place tie in the 11-team Pioneer Football League with a 6-2 record. St. Thomas led all 258 D-I programs in both interceptions per game at 2.2 and total takeaways (fumbles, interceptions) at 2.7. The Tommie defense allowed just 59 points in the team's seven wins.
21. Call it Cretin Avenue Karma: Coaches Chris Olean (12-0 Koch Diamond) and Caruso (4-0 Palmer Field) saw their baseball and football teams finish a combined 16-0 at home during 2021, all on adjacent north-campus fields. And back on May 21, in the same location, nearly 1,500 Tommies had even better walk-off wins. Those individuals left O'Shaughnessy Stadium on Commencement Day with their undergraduate diplomas.
In a calendar year that will be remembered for so much change, hats off to these 2021 grads who are ready to change the world.
--
Gene's Blog is a sports column penned by Tommie sports information director Gene McGivern. Gene is working his 28th season at St. Thomas and 34th overall working with college athletics teams. He blogs periodically on various topics regarding the Tommies and college sports.
If you have comments or questions, e-mail Gene at ejmcgivern@stthomas.edu
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