When Glenn Caruso took over a program that won only two games the previous season, he did what every good football coach does — establish his level of commitment right away.

“I’m not hoping to turn things around here and parlay that into another job,” Caruso said in a 2008 interview with the Star Tribune. “If they’ll have me, I’ll stay here as long as I can, and they’ll have to pry my cold, dead body out of this chair with a crowbar.”

Fast forward four years, and there’s no longer any question about whether or not St. Thomas will “have” Caruso. After orchestrating the best four-year turnaround among all 640 NCAA football programs and winning the Liberty Mutual Division III coach of the year award two consecutive years, Caruso has cemented his place as one of the elite coaches in Division III. But what’s left to prove?

Last year Caruso was in a similar position. The Tommies finished the regular season undefeated for the first time ever, and Caruso had just won his first coach of the year award, spawning rumors that he would soon depart for a Division I head coaching job.

Though nobody could have blamed Caruso for being on a D-I college’s radar last year, the time was not right. Caruso had promised his first recruiting class at St. Thomas “a better tomorrow,” and he delivered on that promise by leading the team to its best season in school history this year, eventually losing in the national semifinals.

Although the 20-0 semifinal loss to Wisconsin-Whitewater proved that the job is not finished at St. Thomas, Caruso’s stock has never been higher. I was recently approached by an Augsburg fan at a St. Thomas basketball game who asked me my thoughts on Caruso. Before I could even answer, the man cut me off and said, “Caruso should have been hired by the (expletive) Gophers. He’s the most popular coach in Minnesota.”

How could I disagree? Caruso is a young (36), energetic and media-friendly guy who fans are drawn to because of his confidence and Italian charm. Though he hasn’t won a national title, his success definitely warrants a Division I coaching position, should he want it. Caruso should not be afraid to seize the opportunity.

In his 16-year coaching career, Caruso has been a part of four impressive rebuilding projects. After spending his first six years as a coordinator at North Dakota State, where he helped a Bison team that went 6-4 the previous year make two NCAA playoff trips and reach the national semifinals in a four-year span, Caruso became the offensive coordinator at Division II South Dakota for two seasons.

At South Dakota, he took over a program that had won 10 combined games the previous three years and helped the Coyotes post back-to-back 9-2 records and win the North Central Conference championship.

In 2006 he inherited just 24 players as head coach of a Macalester program that was coming off a 2-25 stretch from 2003-2005. Caruso doubled the roster size, taking the Scots to a 2-7 record in 2006 and a 4-5 mark in 2007. In his first year at Macalester, the Scots produced their two highest single-game total yardage outputs in the program’s 119-year history.

I understand that Caruso has a young family (three children under age seven) and that he doesn’t want to uproot them. I get that he likes it here and that he’s proven he can get the types of recruits it takes to be dominant year after year. At St. Thomas, Caruso is a big fish in a small pond. I may want to see him swim with fish his own size, but history doesn’t agree.

After looking at past Division III coach of the year winners and other coaches who have had major success at this level, the records show that many of the “big fish,” like St. John’s coach John Gagliardi, Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Lance Leipold and Mount Union’s Larry Kehres, stay in their respective ponds for a long time.

If Caruso decides he wants to be a career Division III coach, St. Thomas football will become synonymous with success, and Caruso will be forever mentioned in the same breath as the Gagliardis, Leipolds and Kehreses. But at his age, with Frank Sinatra-like moxie, it’s hard to imagine Caruso not wanting more. But is more a national title, or a D-1 job?

Most D-3 coaches don’t become D-1 head coaches right away. Caruso may have to start off as a coordinator, but I think if a brave athletic director took a chance on Caruso, his track record proves that he’ll succeed.

With my own graduation approaching in May, I thank Caruso for revitalizing the football program during my tenure at St. Thomas. Some of my best times in college happened on Saturday afternoons, and I will never forget watching the Tommies crush St. John’s 63-7 at home. The memories Caruso and his team created over the last four years are why I won’t be mad if his “cold, dead body” isn’t pried from his office chair. He deserves a chance to prove himself at the next level, and I hope the St. Thomas community supports him no matter what.

Ryan Shaver can be reached at shav7005@stthomas.edu