Shared success: Multi-sport Tommies are driving football’s resurgence

St. Thomas last shared an MIAC football title in 1990 and won its last outright league title in 1983. The lack of a recent winning tradition would figure to be a significant obstacle in the Tommies' quest to return to the top. Coach Glenn Caruso and his players don't buy it. The Tommies, they contend, know all about what it takes to win. Just not in football, although last year's turnaround 7-3 season was certainly a step in the right direction.

Five St. Thomas players were members of national championship teams last spring, including starters Ben Wartman (baseball) and Sam Moen (a track and field relay). A sixth player, defensive back Brady Ervin, a potential NFL prospect, was a member of St. Thomas' 30-1 basketball team that spent much of the season ranked No. 1 nationally.

"No question, success if a self-fulfilling prophecy," said Caruso, in his second season at St. Thomas. "People might pooh-pooh it a little bit ... but if you're around [success] enough, it does rub off."

Wartman has noticed the difference between baseball and football since he walked onto campus two years ago. The 2007 football team his freshman year went 2-8 in its final season under Don Roney. Baseball, as usual, claimed the league title, although Wartman didn't go out, preferring to focus on football his first year Last spring, he was the starting catcher as St. Thomas won the national title.

"In baseball, a conference title is what's expected," Wartman said. "That's the tradition, and if you don't do that, it's a failure. That's way different than coming in here my freshman year and going 2-8."

Moen, a member of the school's 4x100-meter NCAA championship relay team last spring, remembers the 2007 football season as "extremely frustrating. We had very high expectations going in that year. ... We felt we had a lot of talent, and it just kind of sputtered out. It just felt like people weren't on the same page."

Enter Caruso, who was hired away from Macalester, a St. Paul neighbor only a few blocks up Summit Avenue. Caruso was well aware of St. Thomas' long-standing history of success in most sports, and it didn't take him long to notice football did not share that winning mentality.

"The first team meeting we had [after Caruso's hiring] was in a lecture hall, and guys were slouching in their seats and had their hats on," Wartman said. "The first thing he said was sit up straight -- he pretty much yelled it -- and get your hats off."

Caruso coaches and talks as if he's just finished his sixth cup of coffee. The words come rapid-fire, frequently interlaced with motivational messages. A quote by Longfellow reminding that success often requires patience hangs in the locker room, even though Caruso laughingly tells a visitor: "Trust me, I'm the most impatient guy you've ever interviewed in your life."

Caruso might not need as much patience as he thought when he took over after the 2007 debacle. The Tommies finished a game behind league champ St. John's last season, and a controversial goal-line call in the game's final 30 seconds resulted in a 12-9 loss to the Johnnies in October that could have reversed the teams' places in the standings.

Tommies players see last season as proof that the football team's outlook is changing, getting in line with most of the school's other athletic teams. In addition to Wartman and Moen, last spring's national title winners included cornerbacks Kirk Baglien (baseball) and Matt Griswold (4x400 relay) and linebacker Jesse Amar (lacrosse).

"Winning is a lot about attitude, and how you push yourself and your teammates," Moen said. "When you get a whole team with one goal in mind, it's a lot easier to push each other. When you get basketball and baseball and track all pushing each other in other sports on campus, it gets people in that mentality."

Athletics are only a part of the college experience for Wartman and Moen, which Caruso sees as another plus in team-building. The coach, as you might expect, sees football as a metaphor for life, firmly believing that success off the field leads to success on on it.

Wartman has a 3.87 GPA in business, Moen a 3.55 GPA in marketing. Wartman rushed for 1,311 yards and 13 TDs last season, Moen is a four-year starter with 84 career receptions. Both were three-sport athletes in high school and also played musical instruments. Wartman was a trumpet player in the Prior Lake marching band while Moen, who attended Mahtomedi, plays the piano.

"I have two younger brothers, and my parents told us we had to do something musical," Moen said. "They thought music helped make you a well-rounded student. I think they were right."

Their résumés are the sort that prompts Caruso to recite yet one more motivational message -- one he wants to define his rising program.

"You can't just walk in at 2:30 and flip a switch on and try to be excellent," the coach said. "Excellence is a common and ever-present focus that runs through everything that our guys do."