When Oregon State narrowed down its coaching search in November, a rumored candidate highly-successful head coach in North Dakota State‘s Tim Polasek bowed out.
Polasek agreed to a new contract extension with NDSU that month instead amid a 12-1 season, and months later, NDSU officially announced a move to the FBS on Monday. Amid the announcement, Polasek cleared the air on if going to Corvallis was truly an option.
“When that stuff comes up, it really makes you take a hard look at what do you want out of life and where do you want to do it? I just knew if there was a 5% chance (of FBS) going back to late November that I wanted to take our staff and wanted to be on the sideline with them,” Polaske told reporters on Monday. “I wasn’t looking for any other opportunity, but I think this puts us right where we want to be.”
NDSU will play in the Mountain West Conference in 2026, a league that lost a handful to team to the Pac-12, joining Oregon State. The Pac-12 now consists of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State, and Washington State. Oregon State ultimately hired JaMarcus Shephard to guide the Beavers, which went 2-10 in 2025. Shephard las served as the assistant head coach at Alabama.
Tim Polasek More Than Ready For North Dakota State’s FBS Move
A former college quarterback, Polasek first came to NDSU as a graduate assistant in 2006 on then-head coach Craig Bohl’s staff.
The Bison were building a FCS powerhouse at the time as a new Division I team, and NDSU beat FBS teams Ball State, Central Michigan, Kansas, and Minnesota during that span. Polasek also served as position coach during the first championship run of five consecutive years from 2011 to 2015 under Bohl and then Chris Klieman, and NDSU racked up more FBS wins along the way with victories over Minnesota, Kansas State, Iowa State, and a ranked Iowa team in 2016.
Polasek then moved to the FBS ranks on Iowa’s staff as offensive line coach from 2017 to 2020, followed by a three-year stint on Wyoming’s staff as the offensive coordinator. He returned to Fargo as the head coach when Matt Entz left to coach linebackers at USC and eventually become the head coach at Fresno State.
Polasek has a 26-3 record at NDSU thus far with an FCS national championship in 2024.
North Dakota State’s Staff Loaded With FBS Experience
Bohl leaving for Wyoming in 2014 and Klieman leaving for Kansas State in 2018 only benefitted the Bison.
Multiple assistant coaches have return from both staffs to Fargo with ample FBS experience. That includes defensive coordinator Grant Olson, who served under Bohl from 2015 and 2016.
Bison running backs coach Sam Ojuri also served on Bohl’s staff from 2019 to 2020. Safeties coach Devin Klieman served on his father’s staff at from 2019 to 2023.
Offensive line coach Dylan Chmura worked on staff with Polasek at Iowa and spent two seasons on Fresno State’s staff, but before Entz arrived in 2024. Other Bison assistants with FBS coaching experience include wide receivers coach Steve Crutchley (Northern Illinois) and defensive tackles coach Kody Morgan (Kent State).
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