When North Dakota State head coach Tim Polasek served on Wyoming‘s staff in the early 2020s, he had head coaching aspirations in Laramie.
Former Cowboys head coach Craig Bohl retired after the 2023 season, and Polasek, the offensive coordinator, had a shot at the job. After all, Polasek also served under Bohl at NDSU, where Bohl started the FCS dynasty with three consecutive national titles.
That didn’t pan out as former Cowboys defensive coordinator Jay Sawvel took the job instead in Laramie. Polasek isn’t losing sleep over that as the Cowboys come to the Fargodome on Saturday for NDSU’s first Mountain West Conference home opener.
“Somebody else kind of asked that, and the answer is no, because this stuff all happened so fast,” Polasek told reporters on Tuesday.
Polasek left instead to take the head coaching job with the Bison after former head coach Matt Entz left for USC as the linebackers coach in 2024. With that move, Polasek won an FCS title in 2024, and he turned down Oregon State to stay with the Bison beyond 2025, which led to coaching in the FBS anyway.
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Polasek broke down the transition from Bohl and indicated that he has moved on from not replacing Bohl.
“I think somebody asked Jay about that timeline and the truth is Jay accurately spoke,” Polasek said. “He came down to my office, had known he was going to get the job and said hey I’d like you to start thinking about opening this thing up a little bit and I want you to be the guy that does it.”
Sawvel and Polasek worked together for two seasons under Bohl, so the offer made sense. Of course, doors opened in Fargo for Polasek instead.
“He had a vision for it offensively and at that time, at that moment, I was like hell yeah, let’s rock and roll, everyone wants to have a job,” Polasek said. “The first thing is that you’re grateful that he says most everybody or everybody is going to be retained moving forward.”
“The second thing is you get the call, I don’t know if it wasn’t a few days later or things broke that Matt [Entz] might be looking at something and my wheels were turning and shifting gears pretty quickly to how can we make this happen to come back to Fargo and to be at North Dakota State,” Polasek said. “That’s well behind me. Ten years ago Tim Polasek, [he] was mad about every coach getting jobs and doing this and that.”
“I most of the time now celebrate everyone else’s successes and try to control what’s in front of us,” he concluded.
Bison Have Everything In Front of Them vs. Wyoming
While NDSU and Wyoming may not take on a true rivalry feel right away, there’s just as much at stake as the old rivalries of the FCS and Division II if not more. The Bison have a 4-0 record and are in the thick of the chase for the Group of Six spot in the College Football Playoff.
NDSU will need another convincing win on Saturday to stay in that race, as the Bison have a weaker strength of schedule than other G6 contenders.
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