Loss of football program makes Cloquet alum scramble

News that St. Cloud State University is ending its football program has left at least one Cloquet graduate scrambling over finals week to find a way to keep playing college football.

Dylan Lauer, a 2018 Cloquet grad, heard whispers Monday night and Tuesday morning, but dismissed them as rumors until Tuesday afternoon when the news was everywhere.

By the team’s 3 p.m. Tuesday meeting with the president, he already knew what was coming.

The university said it will eliminate football as well as both men’s and women’s golf programs to ease financial pressures and comply with federal rules balancing men’s and women’s athletics. Additionally, St. Cloud will add men’s soccer to its athletic programs to meet the rules of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The changes come after a federal judge ruled that the school needed to take immediate steps to bring gender equity to its athletic programs, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

Whatever the reasons behind the changes, it means Lauer is now doing what he can to let other universities know he is suddenly available: he filled out paperwork to enter the “transfer portal” and reached out to Cloquet defensive coach Jeff Ojanen to see if he could talk to other college coaches, including at UMD.

While still recovering from bad news for the football team, Lauer pointed out that a lot of good coaches lost their jobs too.

“The president did say they will honor everyone’s scholarships for the next four years, so I could continue to go to school here,” Lauer said. “But I know a lot of guys — me, too — still want to play football. I am looking to transfer after this semester so I can be somewhere for spring ball.”

Lauer is studying social studies education, with the goal of teaching high school.

“I enjoyed the teachers I had in Cloquet, and that kind of inspired me,” he said.

Lauer played left guard on the offensive line for the St. Cloud State Huskies, starting all of the games as a true freshman his first year, and playing about six games this season after spraining his MCL in the first game of this season. After moving to Cloquet his freshman year, Lauer played his way up to varsity by the end of his sophomore year, and started every game his junior and senior seasons at tackle. He was a big part of the Lumberjacks team that advanced all the way to the Class AAAA state championship game in 2017 against Holy Angels Academy.

“That’s a great memory and something I’ll probably never forget,” he said, noting that one of his teammates played on that Holy Angels team.

Lauer is hoping to get to Cloquet over the holidays with his girlfriend, Kassidy Steen — another Cloquet grad now in her senior season of basketball for the Huskies — but he might get busy touring different schools so he wasn’t making any promises.

“Right now I’m just keeping my options open,” Lauer said. “I’m gonna try to find a school I like again.”