For Jill Polasek, a journey from 9-man titles to FCS championship games
Wife of North Dakota State head coach Tim Polasek has seen all worlds of football
BY JEFF KOLPACK
The Forum FARGO
The statistician for the New EnglandRegent football team in the early 2000s was too young to be a part of the 9-man football juggernaut of the two small western North Dakota towns. The Tigers won three straight state championships from 1995-97.
Jill Polasek was there, however, with her father being good friends with the head coach. Not many folks from New England, population a few hundred, missed those games. Once, there was the jealousy of her older sister who got to ride a bus to Fargo along with the other juniors and seniors from New England-Regent while sixth-grade Jill had to ride in the car with her parents.
“I remember thinking the drive to Fargo was the longest drive in the entire world,” she said. Well, turns out that was a short drive compared to her adult football life. The wife of North Dakota State head coach Tim Polasek has been with him every step since he left NDSU for a similar assistant position at FBS Northern Illinois. They had to postpone their wedding with that move in 2013, including reception plans at the Fargodome. But it was back to Fargo as the Bison offensive coordinator in 2014, off to the University of Iowa in 2017, the University of Wyoming in 2021 and back to Fargo, again, as the head coach this season.
There isn’t much that a 2004 New EnglandRegent high school graduate can’t handle.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to grow up any other
way,” Jill said. “I wouldn’t have changed anything. I absolutely loved it. I love the people and for the school we had we had amazing teachers. You can’t take those things for granted.”
She worked through high school and it wasn’t some cake job, either. Her parents instilled a good work ethic heard thousands of times a day by other parents in the state, particularly in western North Dakota.
So it was probably no surprise when she met Tim at a social outing in Fargo that she says why she was so drawn to him.
“He is the hardest working person I’ve ever met,” Jill said. “He just goes, never complains.”
The go this week is in Frisco, Texas, where the Bison will play Montana State on Monday night for the Division I FCS national championship.
Tim was the Bison running backs coach when they met, and it wasn’t long before the reality of the crazy hours of a college football coach set in.
“I was wondering, is he just not that into me?” she said with a laugh. “I’m like, there’s no way he’s actually working until 10 at night. On our first date, I remember like he was intense, he kept asking all these questions. I was intrigued, kind of interested but you have to get used to Tim. Definitely a confident, dynamic person.”
But the wonderment turned to admiration for the work ethic.
“No, it’s his passion and he loves those kids,” Jill said. “He loves what he does and I never hold him back from that.”
When Tim was hired as the Bison head coach, he got emotional at his introductory press conference talking about the
journey with Jill, saying it was good she is closer to home. He’s shown his emotions a few times since then in press conferences.
“I would say I’m kind of on the opposite end of that spectrum,” Jill said. “I feel the emotions but I don’t show them as outwardly as Tim does. When he started crying in that press conference, I was so happy for him because this is his dream. We’ve been gone for seven years, it just makes it all the more special.”
It was, after all, a long drive from Dekalb,
Illinois, Iowa City, Iowa, or Laramie, Wyoming, to New England. Fargo is about halfway between New England and Tim’s hometown of Iola, Wisconsin. There were times of being in a car for 17 hours.
“It’s such a whirlwind, you sell your house, you have to buy another one,” she said. “You really don’t even have time to think about it. You just go. We’ve been lucky, we’ve been a part of staffs where the wives and coaches have been super good people. It’s nice because if you immediately need help
with something, you have the comfort of somebody instead of being a complete stranger.”
The Iowa move as the offensive line coach was a no-brainer, with Jill knowing at the time that Tim eventually wanted to be a head coach. A Big Ten Conference assistant was a good place to do that. The first game was also an introduction to big-time football: it took Jill about two hours to figure out where to park and then another two hours to get home after the game.
The Polaseks got to know the offensive line group well, including Tampa Bay tackle Tristan Wirfs, with whom Tim remains in touch. At one team gathering at the home of head coach Kirk Ferentz, the linemen decided to throw Tim in the pool. They had Jill secretly get Tim’s phone beforehand.
“Tristan picked him up and he looked like just an ant compared to this big man,” Jill said. “There was never a dull moment with that
group.”
Rejoining Craig Bohl, who hired him at NDSU, at Wyoming was different in that coaching in Laramie had struggles that Iowa City didn’t have, mainly because of location.
“It was the first time where I saw Tim go through stress,” Jill said. It progressively got better, however, with the Cowboys going 7-6 in both 2021 and 2022 to 9-4 and defeating Toledo in the Arizona Bowl last year. Off the field, the walks in the hills and mountains of Wyoming were memorable.
“You can drive 10 minutes and feel like you’re in a John Wayne movie,” she said.
There isn’t much John Wayne movie in Fargo. Probably not like being a part of three straight 9-man championships. Or four FCS titles like Tim was as a Bison assistant. Traveling to title games has been a part of life for the Polaseks.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at
Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum
Jill Polasek, wife of North Dakota State University’s new football head coach Tim Polasek, greets friends and NDSU staff following her husband’s press conference on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, at the Sanford Health Athletic Center in Fargo.
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
Jill Polasek chats in her home on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Fargo.
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
Jill Polasek is pictured in her home on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Fargo.
North Dakota State head coach says tradition sets the standard, not him
BY JEFF KOLPACK
The Forum
FARGO — When Tim Polasek stepped back onto the North Dakota State campus as the head football coach just over a year ago, he did so with a different set of expectations. In his office on the second floor of the Fargodome, the buck stops there now.
Just like it stopped with Darrell Mudra, Ron Erhardt, Ev Kjelbertson, Jim Wacker, Don Morton, Earle Solomson, Rocky Hager, Bob Babich, Craig Bohl, Chris Klieman and Matt Entz. Those are the coaches, who had a combined record of 577-148-4, that created a line of excellence starting with Mudra in the mid-1960s.
The first of 17 national championships came in 1965.
“The former players that laid down an unbelievable standard going all the way back to ‘65,” Polasek said. “It’s not just about the Division I era. But when you have that kind of history and there’s that kind of pride, we can get that instilled into the younger guys maybe faster than a program that doesn’t have that kind of history.”
NDSU will try to continue its history-book title run with a Monday night date against Montana State for the FCS championship in Frisco, Texas. Polasek was asked what it’s like to step into those kinds of expectations.
“Ultimately, it really
does help you navigate through communicating to young players,” he said. “Hey, here is the standard, but this is the expectation of the BFPA.”
That would be the Bison Football Players Association, the alumni group that was formed several years ago mainly to help former players in need. Polasek brought out an old saying from Morton, who culled the slogan “Bring on the Competition” in the 1960s that is still around the program today.
“But it is also playing to that standard,” he said. “When we play to the standard, typically it’s gone pretty well for us. Pressure is a privilege and it’s about eliminating anxiety just like this game will be and that all comes down to preparation.”
Going way back with Lance
When Polasek predicted last spring that junior receiver Bryce Lance was due for a breakout year, it probably wasn’t a kneejerk comment. The firstyear head coach already had a long history with Lance, going back to the days when he was recruiting his older brother Trey Lance out of Marshall, Minnesota. Polasek went and watched Trey throw when he was a high school sophomore.
“OK, this guy is going to have a similar frame and those kinds of things,” he said of Bryce.
While Trey was an immediate hit with the Bison leading NDSU to an unbeaten national championship as a redshirt freshman in 2019, it’s taken Bryce longer to make an impact. But he did so this year to the tune of 66 receptions and a school-record 16 receiving touchdowns. “Like a lot of our guys, just the consistent approach, being open to being coached,” Polasek said. “Being open to improving and hanging in there, waiting for our opportunities to come and then being ready
when those opportunities do come. Bryce continues to work really hard and he’ll continue to get bigger, stronger and faster as well.”
Game is ‘about the players’ Polasek has on a few occasions this season made note that most of the work of the coaching staff is done by game day. The hay is the barn, so to speak, and other than the usual in-game coaching, the rest is up to the players.
That was his response when asked how cool it was for him to reach the
title game in his first year.
“You do everything you can as a leader to not make it about yourself,” he said. “And that’s not coach-speak. This game will be about the players. It’s an honor to be part of it with them and to help them reach their full potential. Because our players practice so hard and they care about each other so much, I have not been nervous or anxious for a game yet and I’m hoping that will be the case this week.” Etc. etc. etc.
• It will be the 39th
meeting between the schools with Montana State holding a 21-17 edge. NDSU has won the last five, all in the FCS playoffs. The Bison have scored at least 35 points in all five of those games. It will be NDSU’s eighth game against a No. 1-rated opponent with the Bison going 4-3 in the first seven. Wins were against Sam Houston State (2012), Jacksonville State (2016), James Madison (2018) and South Dakota State this season. The first three were in FCS title games. Losses were to Eastern Washington in 2010 quarterfinals, SDSU in the 2022 title game and the Jackrabbits again in the 2023 regular season.
• The Bison have scored at least 50 points four times this season. No NDSU team has ever done it five times in one year. NDSU owns the top three “opponent long plays” in Montana State playoff history with Kobe Johnson’s 76-yard touchdown run in 2021, TaMerik Williams’ 75-yard burst in last year’s second round and Christian Watson’s 70-yarder in 2019.
• The ESPN broadcast crew will be veteran Dave Flemming at the play-byplay, former NFL quarterback Brock Osweiler with analysis and Stormy Buoanantony with sideline reporting.
David Samson/The Forum
North Dakota State assistant head coach Randy Hedberg congratulates an emotional head coach Tim Polasek after the win over South Dakota State in the NCAA FCS semifinals on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024.