Kolpack: St. Thomas men's basketball mirroring Bison football of early 2000s

There certainly was that reaction from some fans and veteran boosters. The death sentence was given and it was a matter of how many executions the football and basketball teams were going to take.

The Bison athletic department budget at the time was $5.1 million a year. A report by a consulting firm determined NDSU could potentially raise between $6.7 and $7.9 million a year in revenues.

The budget this year is around $25 million.

In a Captain Obvious statement, the Division I question was vastly underestimated. It didn’t take long, either. Craig Bohl was hired as the head football coach in 2003 and his marching orders were to somehow get the program through a five-year reclassification from Division II.

Before it expired, the Bison turned in back-to-back 10-1 seasons in 2006 and 2007 that included FBS victories over the University of Minnesota, Central Michigan and Ball State.

Taylor later bought his way via donation to a room named after him at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex, but there should be more than that on campus. Taylor Avenue? A sidewalk?

We don’t know if the University of St. Thomas will name something after head men’s basketball coach Johnny Tauer but the Tommies in a sense are doing the same thing in hoops as the Bison did in football in the early 2000s.

They are unexpectedly winning during a reclassification. In the UST case, it is transitioning from Division III.

The Tommies play NDSU in the Summit League tournament first round Sunday at 6 p.m. They’re ineligible for postseason, however, because of the reclassification but the fact UST is a threat to win it nobody saw that coming.

Just like nobody saw Bison football beating the Gophers.

“I said this in Division III recruiting, we all try to dichotomize the world and say, OK, D-I is one university, D-II is another university and D-III is another,” Tauer said. “At the end of the day there certainly are differences across the board but they’re not nearly as stark as people think.”

The Tommies still have three players who played Division III basketball in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. All three are starters in forwards Parker Bjorklund and Brooks Allen and guard Raheem Anthony.

In high school, Twin Cities recruits Bjorklund and Allen were on nobody’s radar. Neither was Anthony, who transferred to UST this season from Saint Mary’s University, located in Winona, of the MIAC.

In February of 2020, a couple of weeks before the pandemic shut down athletics, St. Thomas played Saint Mary’s in a Division III playoff game. Anthony was with Saint Mary’s. Allen was on the end of the Tommies’ bench (he averaged 0.5 points a game) and Bjorklund was a high school player in the stands as a fan.

“What are the odds four years later those three guys would be playing together on a Division I team?” Tauer said. “And all starting and all playing really well. It’s like a Disney movie because each has taken their own path. I think they’ve all shown that hard work, perseverance and being coachable; it doesn’t guarantee you anything but it gives you an opportunity to be the best you can be.”

It’s been a long ride with Tauer and his Division III players. When Tauer was a high school player looking to play somewhere, it was Allen’s father who showed him around campus at Gustavus Adolphus. When Brooks came to UST, Tauer told him he couldn’t guarantee he would make the team. Bjorklund came out of nowhere to be a good player.

“Those guys, I will always have a spot in my heart for them,” Tauer said. “Not just those guys but the first year in D-I we had nine former Division III players. They moved our culture forward in Division I.”

There was that same story in Bison football. Guys like quarterback Steve Walker, receivers Allen Burrell and Travis White, safety Craig Dahl, center Rob Hunt, running back Kyle Steffes, linebacker Joe Mays and punter Mike Dragosavich were recruited as Division II players. They excelled in the FCS.

“Don’t let anybody tell you a number or a label is what defines you,” Tauer said.