NDSU head coach Tim Polasek reportedly in running for open job at FBS Oregon State
[[{“value”:”
FARGO — North Dakota State head coach Tim Polasek is apparently not just a candidate, but the leading candidate for the open Oregon State job.
That’s according to Oregon-based independent journalist John Canzano, anyway, who
wrote in his “The Bald-Faced Truth” column Sunday that in his informed opinion Polasek is the odds-on favorite to get the job.
And if that’s anywhere near accurate — and Canzano is a well-sourced, longtime Oregon journalist — logic says Polasek would at least be in the conversation in Fort Collins, Colo., for the open head coaching job at Colorado State, too.
The Beavers and Rams are both going to be part of the reconstituted Pac-12 Conference next year. It just makes sense that if one of the schools is looking at Polasek, the other would, too. Especially among programs in a fledgling league that last year hired Jimmy Rogers from South Dakota State (Washington State) and Matt Entz one year removed from NDSU (Fresno State).
Canzano gives Polasek 4-to-1 odds to be the Beavers’ next head coach.
Canzano has Connecticut coach Jim Mora Jr. at 5-to-1 odds; Alabama assistant JaMarcus Shephard and Montana State head coach (and former Bison player and assistant) Brent Vigen at 6-to-1; Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein at 12-to-1; and former Wisconsin and Pitt coach Paul Chryst at 25-to-1.
While acknowledging there might be other candidates involved, Canzano wrote, “I see it as a race between Polasek, Mora, Shephard, and Vigen.”
Wrote Canzano: “I suspect he’s one of the finalists who will interview this week, although I have not confirmed this.”
You’ll love this part, Bison fans: Canzano says one of the attractions of Polasek is that he could bring players with him. The Beavers, 2-9 this season, wouldn’t have to start from scratch in their new conference. The Jimmy Rogers Plan.
Canzano’s Sunday report came one day after he first suggested Polasek was a candidate in Corvallis.
I asked Polasek about being a reported candidate for the OSU job Saturday evening, after he concluded his postgame press conference
following a 62-7 victory over St. Thomas in the Fargodome as the No. 1-ranked Bison finished the regular season 12-0.
“My agent is in contact with a lot of people right now. As we keep winning, certain opportunities could pop up,” Polasek said outside the Bison locker room in the lower level of the dome. “I’m just really focused on the Bison right now and looking forward to a really good lunch with (NDSU athletic director) Matt Larsen on Monday. Outside of that, I have no comment.”
Canzano believes OSU wants to interview finalists Monday or Tuesday and name a new head coach somewhere near the Beavers’ season finale Nov. 29 against Washington State. He did not make clear whether he thinks Polasek was going to interview, but if Polasek is viewed as the favorite it seems obvious he would.
The timing would surely work for an interview for the Bison coach.
NDSU was named the top seed for the 24-team FCS playoff field Sunday,
meaning the Bison get a first-round bye this week before playing the winner of the Illinois State-Southeast Louisiana at home Dec. 6. Polasek indicated after the St. Thomas game that Bison players would be in town early this week, but the coach could easily fly to Corvallis and return as there is no game preparation.
If Polasek is as attractive to Oregon State (or Colorado State) as Canzano seems to think he is, it might come down to whether the Bison coach believes the job is good enough to leave NDSU now or if the grass might be greener after one more year in Fargo.
It certainly would pay much more. Trent Bray, who was fired in October, signed a five-year contract in 2023 worth $2 million a year. He reportedly was paid a $4 million buyout after being canned. Polasek makes $500,000 a year at NDSU.
Oregon State was always underfunded when it was a member of the old Pac-12, which was a power conference filled with the likes of Oregon, USC and Washington. The new Pac-12 will be nothing like that, reborn instead as a so-called Group of Six league with schools that wanted out of the Mountain West for potentially much richer TV payouts. Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Utah State and San Diego State all bolted for the new Pac-12. Washington State remains from the old days.
While it has a good stadium (35,000 capacity) and facilities, Oregon State athletics cut its budget by nearly 9% this year to $91.6 million. That’s still a big number and Beavers athletic director Scott Barnes says the department wants to continue to operate with a Power Four budget — which seems extremely unlikely given OSU’s revenues will be nothing like they were in the old Pac-12.
Polasek would be wise to ask about the future budget for Beavers football, if he is indeed interviewing.
There’s also the matter of Barnes. He’s 63 years old and has been under fire for hiring Bray, who lasted less than two seasons in Corvallis and was fired after an 0-7 start in 2025. Barnes, too, took heat for OSU muffing an NIL deal with a third party — which cost a deputy AD his job as Barnes was left unscathed.
How much longer will Barnes be in the big chair? That’s a question any potential new football coach should ask. Every coach wants to work for the AD that hired him or her.
Every Bison football coach who moved up the ladder has done so in the midst of a playoff run. It’s just the way the timing works. Schools want their new coach ASAP and that leaves NDSU in the lurch. If Oregon State is as hot for Polasek as Canzano claims, get ready for more of the same.
“}]]
