It’s taking a Bison village to help raise Michael Tutsie’s daughter

By Jeff Kolpack The Forum Fargo

The multiple cameras from media outlets covering the North Dakota State football program were waiting in the NDSU football team room late Saturday afternoon, with Bison players Michael Tutsie and Joe Stoffel walking in to answer a few questions. Tutsie brought a special guest.

His 1-year-old daughter Sarai patiently hung out in his right arm while her father talked about the challenges of facing the Youngstown State offense and its record-setting running back Jaleel McLaughlin. The Bison defense did its job when it had to in a 27-14 win at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome.

Tutsie had one interception and almost grabbed another that would have turned into a defensive touchdown.

“That’s a safety’s dream right there,” he said. “I’d be lying to say that didn’t hurt but it’s tough to be upset when you go home and you have this one right here to go home to.”

The 24-year-old Tutsie, in his sixth year of school and using an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic, is living a world quite unlike he did when he was a freshman from Indianapolis. He’s grown up, and balancing the real world of family and football.

While players were probably looking for ways to celebrate a homecoming victory, Tutsie had other responsibilities to consider. He’ll tell you he was nervous when he found out he was going to be a father.

Then he looked around at his support group.

“I saw that it’s going to be hard for me to fail in that situation just because of the village that I do have,” Tutsie said. “The NDSU community, the coaches, my teammates, everybody here is like a manager and I trust her with a lot of people here. It does take a village and it has definitely taken that and I’m blessed to be able to be a Bison for sure.”

Sarai has been a regular around the team, many times with her toddler Bison cheerleader outfit on. She was at Media Day in August, she’s been at practices and the team helped celebrate her 1-year-old birthday.

NDSU head coach Matt Entz has seen fellow defensive backs like Jayden Price or Dawson Weber with Sarai walking into the football office because Michael had an errand or something else to do.

“One big family, like we talk about,” Entz said. “These are great examples of it. He’s responsible for making sure she has appropriate care and getting her to and from places. If you know Steve, his dad, you can see why Michael wants to be a great dad because Steve poured into his son his whole life and Michael is going to do the same thing for Sarai.”

Steve Tutsie is a former college assistant coach who retired as a high school educator, but took an assistant coaching position this year at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, where Michael graduated. He’s got his schedule figured out where he’ll be able to see every Bison game this year, usually getting to the Indianapolis International Airport very early on Saturday morning to catch a flight.

This weekend, the travel plans are reversed. The NDSU charter is flying into Indianapolis and staying there on Friday night before taking the one-hour bus ride to Terre Haute on Saturday for the noon (CST) kickoff against Indiana State.

Sarai has been with her grandparents this week, with Steve taking her after last Saturday’s home victory over

Youngstown State.

“You want a story, you should have seen coach Tutsie going through an airport with two bags and Sarai,” Steve said with a chuckle.

Said Michael: “This is the longest I’ve been away from her, for a week, so it’s been different. It’s been kind of nice to get a little break. Everytime I make a decision I have to do something for her and then I realize she’s not here so it’s been a relief in a sense but I definitely miss her and can’t wait to see her in Indy.”

As a football coach, Steve appreciates other Bison parents taking turns looking after Sarai during a game. He’s a coach at heart, after all, and is all in on the action.

“They’ve treated her so well, as good as they’ve treated Michael,”

Steve said. “You know, a lot of people talk about family and then they just throw that out. It’s as is at North Dakota State. You can tell just how everybody is engaged and not just the players and coaches, but everybody. In football, you need everybody on board and you need as many people as you can on board.”

There will be plenty of family and friends on board at Memorial Stadium in Terre Haute; Michael said the latest count he’s heard is about 50. Surprisingly, it will be his first game at Indiana State.

He was a redshirt freshman in 2017 the last time NDSU played there. The Sycamores went off the Bison schedule because of the Missouri Valley Football Conference schedule rotation in 2018 and 2019 and the 2020 game was canceled because of the pandemic. The Bison would have played at ISU in the delayed spring season of 2021 but Indiana State opted out of all games, the only Valley member to do so.

“Once I decided I was coming back and I saw that we were playing at Indiana State, I knew that was going to be a game I was going to be looking forward to,” Michael said. “It’s going to be really fun just to see all of them supporting me and supporting my team.”

And once again, there will be no shortage of people to watch Sarai.

“I definitely couldn’t have done it on my own,” Michael said. “I mean, it was a jump-starter for me. Life hit fast. It came quickly, but it was also instinctual and a natural thing when she was born. I just have to make decisions for somebody else every single day now, it has affected me greatly and made me mature faster than I was supposed to.”

Steve treats the extra year of eligibility like a gift. It’s still emotional, if not more knowing it’s Michael’s last collegiate year, when the team comes out with its lights-out pregame entrance. Now he goes to games as a grandfather.

“I tell this story all the time, I was 32 years old when I became a father and I wasn’t ready; I was a teacher already for 10 years,” Steve said. “I think he’s done a pretty good job, especially last year when he was student teaching and raising a child. It forces you to grow up maybe faster than you want it to be. I know he is a good dad, which Lorri and I are very proud of the dad that he is.”

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at jkolpack@forumcomm.com. Twitter@KolpackInForum