When Phil Esten returned to his alma mater in 2019 as the vice president and director of athletics, he was immediately faced with a task athletics leaders rarely confront: finding a new conference home for St. Thomas’ 21 varsity sports teams. With more than 20 years of experience at the Division I level, Esten secured an invitation into the Summit League for 18 St. Thomas sports teams. Then, Division I conference invitations followed for three other St. Thomas programs: women’s hockey in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, men’s hockey in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and football in the Pioneer Football League. Under his leadership, St. Thomas received approval from the NCAA in 2020 to reclassify from Division III to Division I, a first in modern intercollegiate athletics history.