The coaching world is often described as a small one. The occurrences of two coaches coming from obscure locations, being together in one location, then separating only to reconnect somewhere is not uncommon.
With Montana State head coach Brent Vigen and North Dakota State head coach Tim Polasek, you have a pair that were a long way apart only to land in the same spot, separately, then precede to follow each other before reconnecting for the centerpiece of their sport – a national championship game – all while soaring and spiraling through their coaching lives that have had great heights.
The duo’s careers have been like an intricate sailor’s knot: hold the two ropes together, loop the end of one on top, then bring the other line up from underneath, around the standing part and back down through the middle and then around again before pulling the two pieces together tightly.
“I texted him the other night and I said, ‘Brent, this is pretty cool,’” Polasek, his face lightening up, said. “I don’t know if it’ll get to an emotional spot for us, but we’ve gotten tighter and tighter over the years. It’s really cool for coach (Craig) Bohl and his tree and the legacy of it, and just watching the Montana State team play. There’s still some of those old defensive keys and characteristics that are there and how they play defense with the four-down front. Then offensively, I think it’s really cool to see Brent free up his offensive coordinator to just continue to be aggressive in calling quarterback runs.
“Pretty neat, pretty cool. Brent and Molly are friends of ours and we purchased their house when we moved to Wyoming, so there’s some history there. I’m looking forward to it, I really am.”
Vigen, of course, shares many of the same feelings and even had a premonition about the fates of MSU and NDSU once Polasek took the job.
“I guess it’s the way it goes,” Vigen, exhibiting a more relaxed posture, said. “When Tim got that job, I imagined there was one of these matchups that was down the road. I had good faith that when Tim got there, they would be moving things forward. We haven’t worked together since 2012, but Tim probably as much as anybody in the coaching profession is someone that I’ve stayed in touch with. I think our relationship has grown. He ultimately replaced me at NDSU (as offensive coordinator) and there was continuity with our relationship there. Then when I left Wyoming, he replaced me and bought my house, too, in Laramie.
“In some ways we were continuing to grow up together as coaches under coach Bohl. We see the game in a common way. We’re different personality-wise for sure but I think when it comes down to the game of football, relationships, how you go about your business, I think we’re very similar. I have a great appreciation for Tim and I look forward to talking before the game and walking over to our sidelines and letting our teams go at it.”
Polasek started his football career in tiny Iola, Wisc. (2020 population: 1,186), while Vigen began his in even tinier Buxton, No. Dak. (2020 population: 348). A star quarterback in high school, Polasek took his game to NCAA Division III Concordia (Wisc.) from 1998-2001, while Vigen would play tight end for then Division II NDSU from 1993-97 after his stellar prep basketball and football careers.
Vigen landed his first position coach gig in 2001 at NDSU and progressed through the ranks until he landed a coordinator position in 2004 and would serve 13 continuous seasons on staff with his alma mater. Polasek served as an assistant at Wisconsin-Stevens Point from 2001 to 2005 when he landed a graduate assistant job at NDSU in 2006, which was transitioning to the Football Championship Subdivision at the time, with Vigen already on staff.
The two coached together from 2006 to 2012 when Polasek left for one year to coach tight ends at Northern Illinois. He’d return in 2014 when vacancies opened after NDSU head coach Craig Bohl accepted the head coaching job at Wyoming and he took Vigen with him as offensive coordinator.
While together, Polasek and Vigen served on the offensive side of the ball exclusively. Polasek was the Bison’ running backs coach from 2007-11, then fullback/tight end coach in 2012 with Vigen in the role of passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2004-08, then offensive coordinator from 2009-13.
In 2006, the Bison won the Great West Conference with a 10-1 overall record. NDSU wasn’t eligible for the FCS playoffs at that point and wouldn’t become eligible until 2008 when it joined the Missouri Valley Football Conference. From 2010 to 2012, Vigen and Polasek were cogs in the resurgence of the football program that once dominated the Division II ranks.
In 2010, the Bison qualified as an at-large team for the FCS playoffs to start a string of 15 consecutive seasons in the postseason. The Bison would win an opening round and then travel to Bozeman, where they made their first statement in the FCS ranks with a 42-17 upset of the No. 4 seeded Bobcats. In the quarterfinals, the Bison took on eventual champion Eastern Washington only to fall in overtime after giving the Eagles their biggest test of the postseason.
The 2010 playoff performance was a harbinger of things to come for NDSU as Polasek and Vigen helped guide them to national titles in 2011 and 2012. With Polasek off to Northern Illinois, Vigen was still the offensive coordinator for NDSU’s 2013 title. With Polasek back at NDSU to replace Vigen as the offensive coordinator in 2014, the Bison didn’t miss a beat winning another title and doing it again in 2015. The Bison have won nine FCS national titles from 2011 to 2021 and either Vigen or Polasek were there for five of them.
Polasek would leave NDSU to coach the offensive line for the Big Ten’s Iowa Hawkeyes from 2017-20, meanwhile Vigen was the offensive coordinator at Wyoming. Vigen would accept the head coaching position at Montana State in 2021 and none other than Polasek would step into his spot at Wyoming where he was the offensive coordinator from 2021-23 before accepting the head coaching job with the Bison in 2024 and now finding himself facing Vigen in the FCS title game.
“I have a lot of respect for that program beyond the obvious with my situation having spent so much time there, but also having faced them,” Vigen said. “I’ve really been impressed with their team. Tim’s come in there and done a really good job. There a team that’s better now than it was in August, that’s apparent.”
Since coaching at NDSU neither has been a part of a national title with another team. That will change for one of them when Vigen’s Bobcats and Polasek’s Bison meet on January 6 at 5:00 mountain time in Frisco, Texas.
