St. Thomas (MN)

Varsity intercollegiate sports began in 1904, and St. Thomas celebrated 100 years of varsity athletics in 2003–04. In 1920, St. Thomas was one of seven charter members of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC).

Since 1973, when the MIAC became affiliated with NCAA Division III, St. Thomas has won more than one-third of the conference's 39 team championships, with 15 NCAA titles in eight different sports, as well as 13 NCAA team runner-up finishes, which includes three additional sports. Overall, St. Thomas has top-five national team finishes in 21 different sports.

In May 2019, the MIAC expelled St. Thomas from the league, due to concerns about "athletic competitive parity." As Sports Illustrated put it, "St. Thomas is just too good at sports for the rest of the MIAC," which was causing other teams to consider abandoning the league and threatening its continued existence.

On October 5, 2019, St. Thomas officially announced its intent to move directly from Division III to Division I, a move that had not occurred since the NCAA established Divisions I, II, and III in 1973, and that was specifically prohibited in 2011. Normally a transition from Division III to I first requires teams to participate for several years in Division II, meaning the entire process would take approximate 12 years to complete. St. Thomas requested a waiver from the NCAA to allow the move, and announced that it had been invited to join the Summit League, a Division I conference that was supporting the school's waiver request.

On July 15, 2020, the NCAA granted permission for St. Thomas to move directly from Division III to Division I beginning in 2021. All but three of the school's 22 teams would compete in the Summit League; the football team will join the Pioneer Football League, a non-scholarship football-only conference with teams in New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and California. Men's ice hockey would join the CCHA and the women's ice hockey team would play in the WCHA. The transition process will take 5 years to complete (as opposed to the 4 years it takes schools transitioning from Division II), meaning that St. Thomas will achieve full Division I membership in 2026.