North Dakota State football is one of the most demanding jobs in college football as a national championship and 14+ wins are expected every year. The last three coaches have lived up to that standard as Craig Bohl is the winningest coach in NDSU history with 104 wins and three straight national championships. Chris Klieman won four national championships and Matt Entz won two titles but now it’s up to a 44-year-old sparkplug from Iola, Wisconsin to get the Bison back to the top of the mountain in FCS football, Tim Polasek.
Polasek has had quite the road to being a head coach at a powerhouse like NDSU. He is a former quarterback at Concordia College. He then spent three seasons at Wisconsin-Stevens Point in various roles. By 2006 he wanted to move on to something bigger, so he sacrificed the best club in his bag, his driver, to afford the trip up to Fargo to become a graduate assistant and then running backs coach. In 2007 he coached the likes of Tyler Roehl and Pat Paschall to a massive upset of Minnesota while his running backs totaled over 300 yards on the ground against a Big Ten team. Following back-to-back national championships in 2011 and 2012 he left to take the fullback and tight ends coach job at Northern Illinois in 2013 where he helped the Huskies to a MAC championship and bowl game appearance.
Once Craig Bohl left for Wyoming, new head coach Chris Klieman needed to bring in a new offensive coordinator since Brent Vigen left with Bohl for Wyoming. Klieman decided to bring Polasek back to Fargo this time as offensive coordinator. Polasek’s second stint with the Bison is much more memorable due to things he did in his three seasons as offensive coordinator as he is mostly remembered for banging on the Fargodome glass during the team’s 35-3 win over Sam Houston State. On one drive the Bison ran the same run play five times in a row due to Polasek banging on the glass of the coaches’ booth. Polasek also called the final drive of NDSU’s biggest win in program history when the Bison shocked #13 Iowa in Iowa City. The Hawkeye’s head coach Kirk Ferentz was so impressed that he hired Polasek to be his offensive line coach in 2017. Following the 2018 season, he interviewed back at NDSU this time for the head coaching position after Chris Klieman left for Kansas State. Polasek interviewed well but finished second to Matt Entz.
When the pandemic ended in 2021 Polasek left Iowa to reunite with Craig Bohl at Wyoming, this time as offensive coordinator and QB coach. He helped the Cowboys to three bowl appearances and two bowl wins but before the bowl game, it was announced that NDSU head coach Matt Entz would be leaving for USC and Tim Polasek’s dream job was available, the head coach at North Dakota State University. The day after the loss to Montana it was announced that he would take the mantle as the 32nd head football coach at NDSU.
The new head ball coach at NDSU hopes to restore the power run game that wasn’t there last year and a dominating defense that only showed up in spurts during last season. He also has kept almost all of the old regime’s staff as he has relationships and connections with most of the current staff. Polasek is known for his masterful recruiting abilities as well as his ability to use the transfer portal. He is a person who will want to be out in public and be the spokesperson for a team that he cares an awful lot about.
I speak on behalf of all of Bison Nation when I say welcome back to Fargo, Coach Polasek!