Tim Polasek didn’t come to North Dakota State with a polished, polished-from-day-one coaching story. He came up through the kind of jobs that leave a mark.
Long before he was steering the Bison through their first season as an FBS program, Polasek was grinding in the woods of central Wisconsin as a logger and working the overnight shift at a steel mill near his hometown of Iola. He did it while he was still a small-college quarterback on breaks from school, and later he leaned on that same hard labor to help cover life as a young coach.
That background shaped how he sees the job now.
“I learned a lot there: That could be you if you don't graduate college and pursue something,” said Polasek, who is 28-3 with the Bison since becoming head coach in 2024. “Seeing those tough jobs and other people having to execute that every day really always makes it an honor and a privilege to be the leader of this program.”
The Bison have started this season with comfortable wins over Jacksonville State and Fordham, but Saturday night brings a different kind of test: their Mountain West opener at Air Force.
North Dakota State’s move into the league came with real purpose. The conference lost Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State this year as those programs helped restore the Pac-12, but it also added NDSU, UTEP and Northern Illinois as football-only members alongside Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV and Wyoming.
For the Bison, the appeal goes beyond simply finding a new home. The fit had to make sense geographically and institutionally, and athletic director Matt Larsen made that clear.
“We weren’t going to go just to go,” Larsen said. “It really had to be the right fit.”
The Mountain West also gives North Dakota State a path, however steep, to the College Football Playoff. That’s part of the equation for a program that won 10 national championships over two decades in the FCS, after previously collecting eight titles at lower levels.
Polasek’s own route through the league is another reason this transition doesn’t feel abstract. He spent 2021-23 as Wyoming’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Craig Bohl, the same coach who once hired him at North Dakota State. By then, Polasek had already spent four seasons coaching offensive line at Iowa and was thinking about the next step.
“It was really critical for me to go to Iowa and Wyoming and not be one of the top two or three teams picked in the preseason every year and learn those hard lessons,” said Polasek, who turned 47 last month. “There was always chatter that NDSU would fit in the Mountain West.”
His climb in coaching started after he finished as the all-time leading passer at Concordia University, a Division III school near Milwaukee. He spent three years on staff at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, then landed his first major break as a graduate assistant under Bohl at North Dakota State, which was two seasons into its jump from Division II to the FCS.
From there, the responsibilities kept growing. He took over the running backs a year later, added tight ends after three more seasons, and returned in 2014 from a one-year stop at Northern Illinois as NDSU’s offensive coordinator and running backs coach under Chris Klieman.
Iowa sharpened him in a different way. Polasek said the lesson there was “being brilliant at the basics” under Kirk Ferentz, while also learning how much respect matters inside a program.
“The second thing I learned from Coach Ferentz is if you treat people right you can cultivate an environment where it’s fun to show up to work,” Polasek said last month in his office at the Fargodome. “No matter if the portal or NIL and all this stuff exists or not, hey, let’s treat each other with respect. Everybody in the building should be able to dance to the music the way they want to dance to it.”
That approach has already resonated with the players who were recruited before Polasek arrived, including upperclassmen on the roster from Matt Entz’s staff, now at Fresno State.
“He’s just hard-nosed and he loves football and he knows the game and he’s a people person," said third-year wide receiver and kick returner Jackson Williams. "He’s going to take care of us, but at the same time he’s going to push us to our limits.”
In Other News...
UConn Just Landed A Five-Star Piece Dan Hurley Really Needed
UConn added a major building block to its future this week when NaVorro Bowman Jr. committed to the Huskies, giving Dan Hurley the first pledge in the programs 2027 recruiting class. The five-star guard from Notre Dame High School in California arrives with plenty of upside and plenty of attention, a combination that has become increasingly familiar for a UConn staff that keeps landing elite talent.
Bowmans commitment is also another sign that Hurleys recruiting reach remains national, not just strong in the Northeast, and it adds to the list of five-star wins the Huskies have stacked since 2023. For a program that has spent the past few years chasing another high standard, getting an early cornerstone in place for 2027 gives UConn a different kind of momentum, even if the rest of that class is still waiting to be built. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Already Has A Big East Test That Could Change Fast
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The interesting part is how quickly the balance around this rivalry could shift again. Both teams are facing the usual roster churn that comes with college basketball now, and St. Johns in particular is waiting on NCAA eligibility decisions for several possible rotation pieces. Even with the Red Storms recent run and UConns standard place near the top of the league picture, the look of these games could change a lot before the teams ever get to tip off. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Just Added Another Elite Piece For Dan Hurleys Next Wave
UConns next wave of talent got a major boost with the commitment of NaVorro Bowman Jr., a five-star guard who already looks like the kind of prospect Dan Hurley loves to stockpile. The son of former NFL All-Pro NaVorro Bowman, the 6-foot-3 point guard arrives with plenty of pedigree and the kind of national profile that tends to turn recruiting battles into early tone-setters for the future of a program.
Bowman Jr. has been one of the most coveted names in the 2027 class, drawing interest from several major programs before choosing UConn. He also brings international credibility after helping Team USA win gold at the 2026 FIBA U17 World Cup, another sign that the Huskies are not just loading up on upside, but targeting players who have already proven they can compete on a big stage. [Read more 🡒]