St. Thomas Granted NCAA Waiver to Join Summit League in 2021-2022

The NCAA has granted the University of St. Thomas a special waiver to allow the Twin Cities area school to jump over Division II and join the Summit League.

A few months ago, the Summit League extended an invitation to St. Thomas to join the conference. The only issue was that St. Thomas was a Division III school and would need to get the NCAA to approve a move up to Division I without going through Division II. The invitation followed a situation in which the Tommies were removed from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for "competitive balance reasons."

Following the NCAA approval, St. Thomas will become the 10th full-time member of the Summit League and the school will bring 19 of its 21 sports to the conference. With the Summit League not sponsoring football or women's hockey, St. Thomas will join the Pioneer League for football and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Women's League for women's hockey.

“St. Thomas brings the full package – an excellent academic reputation, experienced leadership, a massive alumni network, and a winning culture,” Summit League Commissioner Tom Douple said. “With their values-based mission and status as one of the region’s premier private universities, we know the Tommies will represent the Summit League well and we’re proud to welcome them.”

The Tommies will spend one final season as a member of the MIAC in 2020-2021. They will officially become members of the Summit League on July 1, 2021, and will start their five-year transition period into Division I at that time.

Source: The Summit League