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Tim Polasek Was Ready to Stay in Wyoming. Then North Dakota State Called
LARAMIE, Wyo. - Tim Polasek wasn't planning to leave Wyoming when Craig Bohl announced in December that he was retiring after the 2023 Arizona Bowl.
Jay Sawvel had been named Bohl's replacement following the bowl game, and Polasek was going to remain Wyoming's offensive coordinator. Sawvel also wanted to give him more freedom with the Cowboys' offense.
Then North Dakota State called.
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Less than two weeks after Sawvel was named as Craig Bohl's successor as head coach, Polasek was headed back to Fargo to become a head coach for the first time.
Now the two will be on opposite sidelines Saturday when Wyoming visits North Dakota State inside the Fargodome.
Polasek said this week that Jay Sawvel came to his office after he found out he was going to become the next head coach at Wyoming.. Sawvel 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."
Polasek liked the idea.
"He had a vision for it offensively," Polasek said. "At the time, at that moment, I was like, 'Hell yeah, let's rock'n'roll.'"
Sawvel confirmed Monday that Polasek wasn't on his way out when Bohl retired.
"Tim was coaching at Wyoming and was going to be coaching at Wyoming," Sawvel said.
Sawvel was announced as Wyoming's next head coach on Dec. 6, 2023. Within days, Polasek told him North Dakota State officials were coming to Laramie to interview him.
Polasek already had plenty of history in Fargo.
He spent 10 seasons at NDSU over two different stints and was part of four national championship teams before eventually coaching at Iowa and joining Bohl's staff at Wyoming in 2021.
Once NDSU showed serious interest, Polasek knew where he wanted to be.
"I was so focused after the first phone call with Matt that this was going to have a real shot," Polasek told the media at Mountain West Media Days in Las Vegas last July. "I knew the contenders. I just felt like if that opportunity was going to come, that's what I wanted to do and what we needed to do."
"I always promised my wife that we'd always go back home if it was 50-50," Polasek said.
Polasek said he didn't spend much time thinking about whether he could have replaced Bohl as Wyoming's head coach.
"Jill and I, head coaching-wise, North Dakota State was number one on my mind," he said.
NDSU officials traveled to Laramie to interview Polasek, with Bohl helping facilitate the visit. The process didn't take long.
On Dec. 17, Polasek was named North Dakota State's head coach. This left Sawvel looking for an offensive coordinator he hadn't expected to need. Polasek now had the opportunity to run his own program.
He went 14-2 and won an FCS national championship in his first season. Through two seasons, NDSU went 26-3 with two Missouri Valley Football Conference championships.
Does Polasek hold any ill will towards Wyoming for not choosing him as the successor to Bohl? He doesn't view it as a revenge game or a chance to prove Wyoming made the wrong decision.
"The answer is no because this stuff all happened so fast," Polasek said.
Sawvel doesn't look at it that way, either.
"Tim got a great opportunity to go to a place that he loves and a place that he's worked at before and had success," Sawvel told the media on Monday. "That was a great move for him. It was tremendous."
But... there are plenty of “what ifs.” If North Dakota State doesn't call in December 2023, Polasek likely stays in Laramie. He remains Wyoming's offensive coordinator; Sawvel gives him more freedom with the offense, and the two begin the post-Bohl era together.
Instead, Polasek went back to Fargo.
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