It’s all in the family for Tim Polasek
North Dakota State’s head football coach has the energy of his mother
BY JEFF KOLPACK
The Forum FARGO
On Thursday night, friends and family of Tim Polasek and people from the neighboring small towns of Scandinavia and Iola in central Wisconsin will gather at Silver Lake Lanes for a tailgating party. The occasion: the first game as a head coach for their native son.
The bowling alley isn’t big or gaudy or anything of that nature but it gets the job done. Just like the house the Polaseks lived in for so many years and just like the way Tim goes about his daily business.
It’s always been that way. One thing about the new North Dakota State head football coach: he’s been a ball of fire since the day he discovered the world of sports.
“Since he’s been 3 years old,” said his mother Kathy. “I tell you, he was 95% playing everything to almost 100%.”
Tim’s sister April Fredy calls it a non-stop personality and that goes back to the growing up days. She remembers Tim always having some sort of ball in his hand, whether it was a baseball, basketball, golf, tennis or playing softball with her.
“That’s just been his life lesson, he just keeps going,” she said. “There’s no time to sit still. His motto would be ‘time doesn’t stop.’”
The Bison players getting ready for the season opener on Thursday at the University of Colorado can relate. It’s been full throttle for the head
coach since the day he was named to the position last December.
It was full throttle when he left the woods of Wisconsin as a lumberjack in 2006 when former NDSU head coach Craig Bohl asked him to be his graduate assistant. The story is well documented; Polasek sold his golf driver to scrape together enough gas money for the drive to Fargo. He slept in the Fargodome for about three months until he could find housing.
He’s still that guy. Success as a Big Ten assistant at the University of Iowa or as offensive coordinator at the University of Wyoming hasn’t changed him.
“He’s a go-getter, he loves his guys,” Kathy said. “I mean, he’ll probably treat them like his own children and have all the respect for them in the world.”
It was the three of them growing up; Tim, April and their mother. Tim is two years older than his sister, a gap where he was the brother always looking after her. Kathy said they had their usual scrapes “here and there” like any siblings.
“I did it, I raised them myself and I think I did a good job with them,” Kathy said. “I gave them what I could give them.”
That also probably explains the work ethic of Tim, who has been all over the map in the eightplus months he’s been on the Bison job. He’s made countless speaking engagements, he’s met with many NDSU boosters and he’s been the face of the program.
One of Kathy’s jobs in the last 30-plus years has been as a housekeeper at an assisted living facility
as well as cleaning nine houses on the side.
“Yeah, he does work hard but I think he knew how hard I had to work,” Kathy said.
April certainly has seen that over the years, using the following words to describe her brother: Passion, motivation and dedication.
“He’s just worked so hard,” she said. “Obviously our back story, we came from a single home, he just never gave up and his desire and his drive just kept him chugging along. It’s been crazy to watch and be along for the ride so we love it.”
The “we” includes her husband Bob Fredy and their three boys Jackson, Grant and Bennett. In an interesting analogy in both personality and how busy the job of a football coach is, April refers to Tim as being like Santa Claus.
“When he comes around, everybody lights up,” she said.
With no father figure around, Tim was her role model growing up, that much was certain. He was the star high school quarterback who went on to a standout career at Concordia University (Wis.). He left as the school’s all-time leading passer, setting singlegame, season and career records for touchdown passes.
April was always known as Tim’s little sister. She had coaches who would tell her that the fact she was Tim’s sister meant she had to be very athletic.
“So it was a little tough being in the shadows,” she said. “But he did a good job. If anybody gave me problems in school, he was looking out. I
couldn’t have boyfriends. None of his friends would want to date me because I was Tim’s sister.”
True story: When Tim was a senior and April a sophomore, the school had class vs. class volleyball matches during homecoming and one had the sophomore girls vs. the senior boys. April was in the front row. Tim was in a hitter’s spot across the net.
Her fear was he was going to spike it at her head. And that’s what he attempted to do.
“I jumped as high as I could and blocked it back in his face and the whole gym just erupted,” April said. “It was super fun. That was my one victory. I can’t beat him in much of anything, but our household was always competitive.”
True story, part II: Bob Fredy played football at Mount Senario College (Wis). Tim’s first start at quarterback happened to be against the Fighting Saints, and on one play Bob, at safety, picked off a pass. The two didn’t know each other at the time.
“That’s a long running
joke in our family,” April said. On Thursday, it will be no joke. That high octane kid from small town Wisconsin will be on the big stage in front of a nationally televised audience on ESPN. Kathy lives in Iola and won’t pass up a trip to watch her son coach. She can’t be in Colorado this time around, leaving that duty to April, Bob and one of their sons, Bennett.
Kathy figures watching the Bison take the field at Folsom Field in Boulder,
Colo., will be an emotional moment. Like mother. Like son.
Tim shed a few tears at his introductory press conference last December. He got emotional this month talking about the career of fullback Hunter Brozio most likely being over.
“Tim is a lot like me, he has a lot of emotions,” she said. “Sometimes you can hold it back and sometimes you can’t but he tells it like the way it is. I’m going to say a prayer before he plays and cheer loud.”
David Samson/The Forum
North Dakota State head coach Tim Polasek gives instructions during practice at the Nodak Insurance Football Performance Complex on March 19.
Submitted photo
Tim Polasek and his sister April Fredy (left) and mother Kathy Beyersdorf.
North Dakota State head coach Tim Polasek (third from left) is like Santa Claus when he shows up with his family, which from left are nephew Jackson Fredy, Tim’s wife Jill Polasek, mother Kathy Beyersdorf, sister April Fredy, her husband Bob Fredy and their sons Grant and Bennett.
Gindorff returns to Bison program as sideline analyst
BY JEFF KOLPACK
The Forum FARGO
The ankle of former North Dakota State tight end Noah
Gindorff never fully healed, hindering the last season of his Bison career and putting a damper on his NFL efforts. His voice, however, is just fine.
Gindorff will handle sideline analyst duties for NDSU football games on 1660-AM this season, a job that keeps him connected to the program and the sport.
“I was looking for a way to get involved with the program,” he said.
“It’s such a phenomenal program and I think just being around it, there’s a lot of great people and I wanted to find a way to give back a little bit, this opportunity came up and I thought it was a great idea.”
He’ll be a part of the broadcast team that returns play-by-play announcer Sam Neidermann and veteran analyst Phil Hansen, who has been in the booth for every Bison season since 2003. Gindorff is the third straight former standout player to handle the sideline duties following Cole Jirik and James Hendricks.
“I’m looking forward to that side of it,” Gindorff said. “Just getting to enjoy taking the game in as opposed to having to worry so much about the game plan and things like that.”
Gindorff’s standout Bison career ended after
three games his senior season in 2022, the victim of an ankle injury that never fully healed. He underwent a second surgery, yet recovered enough to give the NFL a shot.
He signed with the Seattle Seahawks as a free agent and felt good heading into mini-camp, but the pounding of the game eventually took its toll.
“I just never got fully healthy after the surgeries,” he said, “and obviously as an undrafted guy you need to be out on the field pretty much all the time getting those snaps. That was unfortunate, but I had a great time and I have nothing but good things to say about the organization. I was just never able to get back to where I was at before my initial injury.”
Gindorff was released, but was picked up later that season by the Pittsburgh Steelers. That lasted about a month before he was waived.
“Had a few workouts after that but nothing materialized and that was that,” he said.
Gindorff has been building houses this summer, but has started a career as a financial advisor for EFS Advisors. Just two years removed from playing at NDSU, he’s hoping his connection to players will help with his new role with the team.
“I think that will be a big thing for me, having that trust with those guys already,” Gindorff said. “Being able to talk to those guys and have them feel comfortable
with me on the sideline interviewing them, I think that will be great.”
Reality
set in for Polasek
In retrospect on his first fall camp as the Bison head coach, Tim Polasek said he liked the revamped schedule from prior years and he liked the way his coaching staff handled the players.
NDSU went to 1:30 p.m. practices, a switch from the early morning starts of prior years.
“I trust in the systems and the things that we’ve employed in the plan since spring,” Polasek said. “My sole objective is to make each and every game a player’s game and to give them a chance.”
That thought hit him over a week ago when he woke up with the Colorado game not so far in the rear view mirror anymore.
“I woke up with a little bit of excitement and angst and it was like, OK, who are the ones who are going to step up in these big moments and get it done?” Polasek said.
“Because throughout history in the FBS games, nationally televised games, we’ve had players make plays at an elite level that pushed us above and beyond.”
Also on his mind: Depth charts, potential players to be protected early in the season and special teams, among other countless details.
“That all became a pretty big reality,” he said. “We’re hammering away but, yeah, my emotions have changed a
little bit. It’s gone from pure excitement and enjoying the job to, you know, you’re in that rocking chair and worrying a little bit.” Etc. etc. etc.
• The Bison Football Radio Show on 1660-AM with Polasek will be aired live every Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Fargo Holiday Inn. Fans are invited to attend in person or submit questions to the station.
• In a sign of the times of fashion, especially at Colorado, the Buffaloes coaching staff will have different-looking headsets each game to coordinate with the uniforms on the field.
• After giving up 56 quarterback sacks last season, CU revamped its offensive line. Said
offensive line coach Phil Loadholt last week: “It’s been great. We’ve had a lot of time to evaluate these guys and so far it’s been pretty good.” Loadholt played for the
Minnesota Vikings from 2009-15.
Readers can
David Samson / The Forum
North Dakota State’s Noah Gindorff breaks free after a pass reception against Arizona at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Ariz., on Sept. 17, 2022.
Trevor Ruszkowski / USA TODAY Sports North Dakota State tight end Noah Gindorff speaks to the press at the NFL Combine on March 4, 2023, at Lucas Oil Stadium.