St. Thomas’ transition to Division I isn’t just a label change for student-athletes; it means facing off against bigger, faster and stronger opponents.
The average DI FCS offensive lineman is 2 inches taller and 15 pounds heavier than the average DIII offensive lineman, according to Next College Student Athlete; for basketball, DI small guards are 3 to 4 inches taller than DIII small guards.
These may not seem like big differences, but for St. Thomas sports teams, strength and conditioning will likely be paramount to their success when entering DI competition.
“We’re all aware of the different level of athleticism and strength when you go DI,” men’s basketball senior Kevin Cunningham said. “I think everyone is on the same page that we have to get a lot better in that area.”
To help student-athletes get to the next level, St. Thomas athletics hired a trio of strength and conditioning coaches with experience at the high school level, nearly every collegiate level and even Major League Baseball.
Former strength and conditioning coach Stuart Borne moved to the St. Thomas athletic training staff to work with the cross country and women’s basketball teams this year.
Cunningham said coaches Jon Haugen, Alli Barthel and Ryan Ho are already holding athletes to a “high standard” with habits like jogging from place to place in the weight room.
“They’re constantly on us, making sure everything is perfect for us and that we’re doing the correct form and not slacking off,” Cunningham said. “Once we get to warmups, it’s go time. Once we start, all the way to the end, you gotta be going.”
Haugen, who directs the strength and conditioning department, focuses on “training with intent” and paying attention to details to track progress.
“Every athlete has a folder with their own training program on it,” Haugen said. “We want them to fill that out. We want them to put in the weights that they use (and) the reps that they did.”
Folders aren’t the only change to athletes’ workout routines; instead of having separate workouts for weight lifting or speed and agility, the workouts are combined into three hour-long sessions per week.
“The first 25, 30 minutes of our session … is dedicated to speed and agility, or just plyometric work,” Barthel said. “The second half of that will be a lift. Instead of making them come in five days a week, let’s take them for an hour, let’s split it in half.”
Ho said the intensity level the coaches bring is more important than the complexity of the workouts the coaches plan.
“We could write the best program in the world, and if they don’t work hard at it, they’re going to get nothing out of it,” Ho said. “We are the thermostat.”
Aside from achieving strength and conditioning goals, Haugen hopes to expand the space athletes have for training. Haugen said he has “heard rumors” about separate facilities for students and student-athletes, but it likely won’t happen in the near future.
“We’re training Division I athletes, and we want to have them ready, and we don’t want to put them at a disadvantage because we don’t have something that we could have.”
Barthel, who works with seven St. Thomas teams, said Tommie athletes are already stepping up to the new challenge.
“The kids who came here originally as Division III, I think they know that it’s going to take something a little different now,” Barthel said. “They’ve taken that head on and … had pride.”
Cunningham echoed Barthel’s enthusiasm.
“We’re all having a lot of fun with it because everyone from DIII to DI, we all know the challenge ahead of us,” Cunningham said. “We’re the first to do it. Why not embrace it?”
Mia Laube can be reached at mia.laube@stthomas.edu.
Wonderful. Three coaches instead of, perhaps, three professors. Division one; the gift that keeps on giving.