St. Thomas football talks defending Pioneer League title, fast FCS start at media day

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The University of St. Thomas made the transition from Division III to Division I two years ago, but the standard the athletic teams hold themselves to has not changed.

Nowhere is that more evident than with Glenn Caruso and the Tommies’ football program. Caruso is entering his 16th season at St. Thomas, and his next win will be the 150th of his career. The Tommies are 17-4 in two FCS seasons, including a 14-2 mark in the Pioneer League.

St. Thomas went 10-1 last season, 9-0 to win a conference title and are the preseason favorites to repeat after getting all but two first place votes. Caruso has won eight conference titles at St. Thomas.

Caruso and several players spoke at the team’s preseason media day on campus Monday, with the 2023 season-opener set for Sept. 2 against Black Hills State.

"I could give the trite coaching answer and say it doesn’t mean anything. From our point of view, it doesn’t change how we work or what we have to do," Caruso said. "I will say this, we had been in the position where that’s not new to us to be in that spot. Maybe the voters are different, the league is different, the division is different, but the core way that we approach our work, that hasn’t changed. We’ve been in that spot before, and it’s an honor. It’s not going to change how we work."

The only downfall to the transition is the Tommies are not eligible for the FCS Playoffs until 2026. St. Thomas has 17 starters back from last year’s 10-1 team. That includes the program’s first Division I preseason All-American in wide receiver Andrew McElroy. He finished with 717 yards and seven touchdowns in 11 starts.

St. Thomas has nine preseason All-Conference players, including junior defensive back Yusef Leak, junior linebacker Jonathan Bunce and junior offensive lineman Alec Rasmussen. Bunce’s freshman year was the program’s last in Division III, and he’s one of a few players on the roster who stayed for the move to Division I.

Bunce had 57 tackles, and 5.5 sacks last season.

"The question I always get is what’s the transition like? As a football program, we’ve always pursued excellence in the same way. Jumping to Division I wasn’t like OK, now we’re taking this seriously. All the processes are the same and we’ve had to adapt a ton," Bunce said. "I just love how guys who have been in the program 12 years ago could come back to practice today and say I can see the same things that they did in 2012 that they’re doing in 2023. That’s what I love is keeping the same core principles throughout the transition."

They hold themselves to a high standard, but even they can say they’ve surpassed early expectations.

"Coming in as a freshman in the first year that we had the ability to play these Division I teams has truly been one of the greatest times of my life. Whenever I’m home in the summer and I’m out wearing something purple, I always have people coming up to me asking me how it’s been," Rasmussen said. "For us to be so successful, it speaks measures to what this program is."

Now that they’ve won at a high level in FCS Division I, the challenge is to sustain it. The Tommies are already 10 days into fall camp, with about another three weeks to go until they kick off the 2023 season.

So what did Caruso learn about his program’s second year in the Pioneer League? Be comfortable with change. The Tommies’ first five games of 2023 are against teams they did not face last season.

"The No. 1 thing that we learned is you have to be dynamic if you want to be good in this league. I think we’re in a bit of our old status of you better be comfortable being uncomfortable. There’s some tremendous football that goes on in this league and if you are not at the top of your game, it’s going to be exposed very quickly," Caruso said. "I would say that’s probably the No. 1 thing we learned."