MVFC First & Goal Podcast with NDSU Coach Tim Polasek.

welcome to the Missouri Valley Football first ENG go podcast I'm Kelly Burke and joining me today is the new head football coach at North Dakota State Tim pisac coach how are you I'm doing good excited to touch base with you Kelly and uh you know obviously looking forward to the season and our guys have about eight more days of training and then we'll give them a little two-day break three- day break and send them off with a cookout and we're ready to rock and roll bring the staff back next week uh Monday and we'll be up and running yeah Ian less than six weeks from now you guys are going to be playing your first game which is it's come up fast but I know everybody's looking forward to it yeah they've uh you know basically since December 27th or whenever I got the Fargo to kind of start working you know all the talk has been about Colorado and I've deflected you know on just how much improvement we need to make um getting our core values and our standards established um getting our guys in the weight strength and conditioning program and you know just getting the basics implemented you know there's been a lot of questions about um Dion Sanders Colorado what are you looking forward to most and so it's it's exciting to have it around the corner but we really do have a lot of work prior to worrying about um Colorado I just completed our fall Camp schedule and you know quite frankly we don't get to them until August you know 20th or the 21st so there's a lot of work that needs to be done prior to that yeah you mentioned uh you know just introducing your core value you've got three of them compete improve and tough why why did you choose those three in particular well I think when you talk about core values right I mean that's just it you're you're talking about the DNA of who you are as a person um how I feel about competing and improve it's kind of interesting I found a paper from my football coaching football 101 class when I was like 18 years old nice and My Philosophy at that time was my thoughts at that time because my philosophy was not developed was compete and improve with consistency and so I've always um as an athlete College athlete youngster um High School athlete you know I've always just I've always valued competition I love competition I love competing it's it's my purest form of Joy I really um I have a lot of fun when it's there's a competitive nature to it um and so competes always been near and dear in my heart I'm a very competitive person and then on top of that the thing I value most um I think coach fence at Iowa really opened my eyes up to you know in solidified my belief in Improvement you know like if you can consistently improve and you can come together as a team late in the year you have a chance to have a special season and so compete improve we're always there and then where I fell on toughness was just having an appreciation uh for discipline and mental toughness obviously at North Dakota State we'd want to be the most physical team in the country I mean that's that's kind of been a um a standard here that we've established a goal that we've always worked toward having a lot of pride in and so those are our Three core values and I thought those would be a good way to get year one up and running um an exercise that we do is we try to have everybody on the team identify what are their core values going to be for their team and for who they are academically socially and football-wise and so I think um core values are really really critical to being true to yourself to being a good teammate um so we can all be accountable for those things daily yeah was there a a common theme that when the the players did this exercise that you know a common core value that a lot of them said gosh I wish I could pull up uh their profile Pages cuz next to their picture and kind of what they did so get to know them um are there three core values that they chose through this um through this exercise that we do that I got from the book called The Program um you know passion shows up a lot accountability shows up a lot um I think faith is one of those things in our team that's that's strong shows up a lot of you know Integrity but you do get variance in you know okay balance some guys that are really deep into their careers or have come up as Leaders understand how important balance is and the thing I encourage our guys is no matter where you're at as an 18-year-old it's all about getting on a knee and asking somebody to marry you someday and really understanding who you are going to be for your family and for for them um as a husband and a wife combo is so critical and so we'll do that exercise kind of seasonally and see what guys are changing as we go and um but those are a couple I think that um show up you know competitive Spirit Pride accountability those kind of resonate passion kind of resonate through our team yeah that's awesome I love that you did that I i' I've actually done an exercise like that with one of my business mentors um he took me this is probably five years ago but yeah told me to come up with five core values and one of my big ones is is honesty so I think it's h so important to kind of know what you stand on coach this is your your third stent at North Dakota State you obviously started in Fargo as a ga how full circle is it now to be back as the head coach yeah I'm going to try not to get long- winded right but you know college football the last two three years has been um Ever Changing has been um evolving a lot of things really positive some things that we're learning how to work through um so there was a point in my career um when I didn't get the job here when coach an got it when I interviewed when I was at Iowa you know I man I dove into this leadership thing a full steam ahead I took it as you know not a slap in the face because Matt an was the right guy for the job at the time but I took it as hey you're not as sharp as you think you are right you need to dive in and and then when I got to Wyoming it became real apparent to me how much um I just love coaching football right like really you know Andrew Peasley the quarterback we had there the last two years um and being affected by the portal a little bit at Wyoming it became crystal clear to me I I didn't necessarily want to be a head coach at every mid- major School in the country but NDSU I had always had circled and so getting back to your question about it coming full circle when that opportunity um came open and in coach Ro who's a wonderful coach you know we were in each other's weddings you know and the job was going to be kind of a open competition you know and was able to capitalize on the opportunity interviewing with the president the ad here I had that moment of like okay this is a huge Challenge and this is something you always wanted to do at North Dakota State and so full circle for me is when Craig B um was a big part of setting up the interview in laramy he announced his retirement um so much of my foundation and belief in how to practice um how important team and Community is was all developed with Coach B and so I think that that's really it's really one of those things that's pretty neat as far as getting to put it into action now at a place that gave you so much like I feel like this place um has developed me into the coach and the recruiter that I am um I met my wife here and so any 50-50 decision over the years I've always promised her we would take advantage of that and so to be able to come back to North Dakota and come back to Fargo and this community I mean it means a lot and we got to do some big things here to to accomplish the standard that we help to develop but it's everything it means everything yeah you you mentioned your your wife uh I mean you got the introductory press conference you know you got visibly emotion emotional talking about her um your wife Jill so H how much joy does it bring you to to get be able to to bring her home to where she's from it's I like you know marriage for a football coach isn't always easy you know she was very successful in Edward Jones um then we take a job and we go to dcal you know Northern Illinois for 345 days and we come back quickly I think she realized okay this landscape can change pretty fast you know starting with having to relocate your wedding and do all that and so when I think back on what she sacrificed and what she's given up professionally relationships wise um to just give her a chance at least to reconnect with people that are important in her life while I chase this crazy profession of football I mean it's if you get I mean I'm a I'd like to think I'm a emotional person I do care a lot but when you get to thinking about what your wife or your family or your kids and just like think about moving you know the wives have to do that all on their own and we've done that a few times it just I hope that she has the same Joy or the same feelings that I do okay he's done everything he can to to get us back in position where we can build a home yeah you know it's interesting because I see a lot of parallels I I'm friends with a lot of coaches wives um but I also I'm from a third generation military family and so my my my brother is uh lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and I look at what my sister-in-law has done and it it's very parallel the journeys that milary wives and coaches wives go on a little bit because again you have to be super independent um manage the household you know a lot of times by yourself um you know it's I don't know I never thought about it until recently just how the parallels between the two yeah it's I know I have a better appreciation today than I did let's say you know after we beat Iowa and 16 and getting that job you know to me like that was such a no-brainer professional to to have the opportunity to coach with Coach fence or for Coach fence and be at Iowa and be in the Big 10 being a big 10 Regional guy I guess um it you know what just go to the bottom the bottom packing boxes uh reorganizing redesigning redecorating a house um getting your yard set up is one thing but all the paperwork and signing you know onto a new bank and loans and like just I have such a great appreciation and I probably need to do a better job of letting her know how much I appreciate her because our house is is phenomenal because of her you know and she does so many things from setting it up and making it home and feel like home everywhere we've been that I don't think we should undervalue that when you when you left North Dakota state that the second time and you took that job as the offensive line coach at Iowa um that was a position group you hadn't coached before so how did that experience make you a better Coach well it's interesting because you know Iowa they probably looked at a couple other guys first right that I coached the old line I think for them their process as it went on I went through about a 16-hour interview there wow and it it felt like everything but being interviewed as the o line coach so I thought they did a really good job of testing me in football knowledge teaching Style um recruiting approach recruiting of philosophies um I mean it was it was one of my most uh enjoyable football experiences I've ever had but it was a test and it was a test with multiple people you know different groups of people the defense the offense um and so I think kind of how that all came about was Iowa had a foundation of a way to do in way to coach offensive line the drills were set the philosophy was set there were multiple people in the building one two three four former old line coaches including the strength coach um who had an understanding of how they were going to do it so I was going to get plenty of help and I think they felt really Confidence from an X and O standpoint and from a leverage standpoint you know playing the game fundamentally that I would be able to adapt and stay in their boxes and so honestly the transition was a little bit easier than I would have thought it was going in because there were so many parameters you know you only get to do four run drills a day you know we hit repeat on those four run drills um we only had um five pass Pro drills and we did those every day and so those boxes allowed me just to get after their fundamentals and their coaching points immediately and then schematically I'm not saying it was an easy fit but schematically that part you know worked out quicker than actually just learning the basics yeah when um when Matt Larson the North Dakota State athletic director when he introduced you he talked about just how the scope of this this football job is is a Monumental task what has been the biggest challenge for you in this first seven months as as you've tackled your first head coaching job you know I think I think it was just honestly just really trying to get to know the players there were so many of them that I had recruited at other places um but really getting to know them and talk to them about the vision in my story you know I it felt like I was selling the fact that I'm a bison you know and we have a saying here and we really everybody believes in this but once a bison always a bison um those who stay will be Champions you know bison pride and so once I was able to project my story to the group and then to several several individuals um that became a little bit easier as time went on but that initially was a real was a real test I mean this program is built on a lot of Pride um these players you know were in the corner of Coach role for sure um and getting them to understand uh my story and my relationship with Coach Ro and it's been really good because there's been several players on offense that are like okay I get it now I get where coach Ro said that or why you are the way you are um that's been a big Challenge and then just reuniting with our support here at India issue you know it's it's so big like um Team makers you know our foundation of how we raise money and re getting reestablished after seven years of being gone with the with the community and with the support you know has been you know it's taken a lot of energy and time away from my wife um but those two things probably have been the the biggest challenge and then you know as well as anybody you know we had to hire an operations guy in June late June yeah you know we had to hire recruiting guy in late June um so some of those hires being when they happened this year because of the transition was really challenging while we were official visiting kids in June running our camps you know so those three things I would probably tend to lean towards saying first yeah you know I talked to to Matt about this last year and I've talked to previous um North Dakota State head coaches about this too is you just the level of success that that you have had there with that program the expectation is so high the expectation every year is to want to win a National Championship it's very much you know like Alabama in that sense and so you know sometimes you have fans that look at it as if you're not winning a national title every year that the season is a failure whether that's fair or not so how would you measure success this year just honestly if every day we go out and compete and improve and we're tough you know we're staying off the front page of the newspaper you know because of our mental toughness our pride in the program um and then honestly like I really do believe this I think we have a really good football team right now but you kind of mentioned it a good football team sometimes ain't enough for our fan base yeah um but I do believe if we compete and we improve daily um and we come together and our our toughness and our togetherness is great in November we'll have a chance to do special things um if we reach our full potential as a football team that would that equals success to me but it is so hard to verbally say and to express because anything short of championships um at the national level and the conference level which the conference is better than it's ever been before yeah I mean that just that's the reality that we live in here at North Dakota State and we're well aware of that but I think one of the things that Craig B did such a good job of is we didn't talk about winning the national title we talked about getting HomeField Advantage um we talked about winning the Missouri Valley Conference or the Great West going back when we were in that conference and I think we have to create daily habits that'll lead to success the goals are important but everybody in our building everybody in this community knows you know it starts and ends with championships um we have to keep our core values at the Forefront and when we do that and we reach our full potential as a football team um I think that's going to look like success for a coaching staff if we can position our players to where it's a players game every week and position them to have a chance to make plays I I really do believe that's one of our big roles in the players lives um along with creating roles for them and them understanding they have to grow it okay and then we have to be teachers first and teachers of the game first and then when players show up with uh big body language and they're coachable beautiful relationships will be developed and those are important to us as well when when you got hired for your first college football coaching job you were a lumberjack on the side to make ends meet how does the the hunger of that young man who so badly just wanted to work in college football how does that still burn inside you I just it the way it does is when I think about my back home and my friends like I have such a respect level for people that go you know 8 10 12 hour days right I mean they're literally I mean there's some positives right you punch the clock on both ends and then you leave work and you get to do whatever else is in your life where we don't necessarily have that um as football coaches you never turn off recruiting you never turn off thinking about the game or the team um but my appreciation for what I get to do starts uh with the fact that I was a lumberjack you know a logger um starts with you know the fact that in college you know I was in a steel mill in the summertime and the winter time and so I've done some of those jobs and I just every day I wake up and I realize how fortunate we are to coach and teach this great game and to lead um coaches and to lead players and to help them to reach their full potential brings a lot of joy to me and I have a lot of uh respect for the position I'm in but there's also a lot of joy that comes with it because of the some of the hard tasks and hard jobs I had early in my career what is worse getting a logging concussion or a football concussion I think football because you know you got to leave the game most times um you're you're letting down your teammates that sense of what you know you get a logging concussion they take care of you and they kind of send you home for the day yeah but I did actually have one of those when I was logging I I got um my helmet got split open from they call them the Widow makers MH uh loggers get hurt a lot from the branches that fall from other trees that are being cut down and so I would say football because you're letting your teammates down you're having to exit a competition and you know you only get so many of those opportunities to play this great game and that's probably harder yeah you're a former standout three quarterback what makes a great QB um a guy that knows how to earn the respect of his teammates always stays true to his core Valu so guys know where to turn when the pressure goes up I think it's critical on them I mean right like accurate thrower a guy that can extend plays with his feet um a guy that understands what a bad play looks like because of what the defense is doing to you is is critical in our system um but man I really do look at the leadership piece um and then like natural playmaking you know Brock Jensen's a guy that never gets talked about around here anymore because of Easton stick Carson Wentz and Trey Lance and now we got what we think is a pretty good player and cam Miller but you know the one thing Brock always did was he kept us on the field you know if we needed seven yards he found seven and a half you know with his feet and that grit and that toughness I we refer to that a lot as third down grit and I think a quarterback that has great third down grit whether that's the mental toughness to push the ball in there in a tight spot or to find an alley to run is so critical so those couple things are important but those guys got to find a way to be themselves and not to be cookie cutters um and then you know kind of the South Dakota State guy right he's like he's tough man he makes a lot of plays and critical moments um those are the five or six plays a game that you need and most of them come from the quarterback position yeah the Dakota marker game this year is going to be televised nationally um you know on linear TV which is a huge deal hasn't been done in the conference before how does that amplify this rivalry even more well I just I don't know if it amplifies it in their locker room or ours but what it does do is it brings national attention to two outstanding programs I mean South Dakota state has done such a good job they've done such a good job in the covid era recruiting you know and sustaining and maintaining their program I mean it's always been a dog fight if you look back on the history of it over the last 15 years um I just think anytime that you've got a rivalry a border War a rivalry that has some national attention to it I think that's good for our conference and I think that's good for both schools yeah uh you know you mentioned you won't really turn your attention to Colorado till August 20th but you know I'm sure you're anticipating I mean the the media attention the interview requests for you and your players are going to be an overdrive that week so um besides the fact that Colorado has a bunch of new players and new coordinators and that whole on the field component how do you manage all the hoopla surrounding the game well it's it's good right it's not for several of our coaches and for myself it's not our first rodeo I guess it I have a lot of respect for Colorado I have a lot of respect for um the excitement around their program the excitement that Dion Sanders brings to the table uh anything that um he's involved in going back to when he was a commentator and an analyst I mean U it's just really exciting but we got to keep the main thing the main thing and the main thing is we've got four quarters to play um we want it to be a four quarter game obviously and then believe the things that we believe in if it's deep in the fourth quarter you know potentially we'll have a shot to make a play or two you know that's kind of what we learned from the Iowa Victory you know you learn from the Kansas State Victory you know nine of our nine wins over FBS teams I think three or four of those things were real knockdown drag out type games um so we have a good blueprint for that I learned a lot being at Iowa um going in and playing a team like Ohio State you know and we were fortunate to get a big win that night but playing in those Penn State battles was unbelievable and the thing you just you know if you can prepare properly um the guys will have a chance to go out and function in in what can be a pretty intense intense time the thing I love about the game the most is I think it's going to set us up for bigger moments coming down the road during the season yeah yeah no no doubt about that um a couple more questions for you because I want to be respectful of your time you know give me an example I've heard you talk about with Coach parents you you learned a lot about the little things so give me an example of a little thing that you emphasize in practice because of what you learned from coach parents yeah you know in Iowa we had you know a bunch of rules like you know just your jersey tucked in you wear your socks a certain you know he always want him to practice like we were going to be mandated to play that would be one um how specific in detailed they were in their strength and conditioning and nutrition you know a lot of people don't know this but about Iowa I don't think they pour in more nobody pours in more resources into their you know their greens and their vegetables um their nutrition what's in their weight room the refueling um you know took a lot away from that how detailed that was in the investment that it takes to you know maybe to not be able to recruit the highest level guy but to be able to play everybody tough in the conference I mean you're talking about a guy that's won roughly 10 games a year for 25 years on average um the fundamentals I wanted to talk about those things first and make my strongest Point here the fundamentals in the basics you know if you just play clean football you don't turn it over you're not penalized very often you know you really do have a shot to win every game if you tackle the football and play special teams you know like that's those things are huge you know so they had a saying there like being brilliant at the basics would allow you to have a chance to win every game and I think we're going to try to sharpen our sword take like that mindset along with all the schematical things that we do here that we do feel like put some stress on some people but we want to do the fundamentals and that's the thing that I'm preaching probably more than ever is um you know simple things like how do we talk about Leverage at Iowa they all say the same terms horizontal and vertical leverage that's just an example but being brilliant at the basics playing clean football um you know I think this is an Iowa Hawkeye wrestling thing but coach fence you know kind of took it from those guys uh from coach Gable um go longer and harder than your opponent you know and just you know out wrestle them right um so those few things are are what I took the most and then I'll finally I'll leave you with this uh there's just no reason not to treat people you know in your building you know possess a genuine appreciation for the job and the role everybody has that might seem like a like little thing but it is it is huge and I think North Dakota State's always done it but me getting a chance to see Iowa and that be at the Forefront from coach fence and from Mary fence his wife um you know just again solidified something I felt strong in but um I I do do appreciate I appreciate my time at Iowa you know immensely great people good football coaches but better people you know I stole this from there to better people make better Hawkeyes you know better people make better bison yeah that's what we're looking for No Doubt what what is the backstory behind the um bison uh picture canvas you have behind you in the office was that was that there when you came when you got yeah okay actually you know our when I got back here okay my first year 2006 I actually had to help move everything into the Fargodome for the office setup as a ga um in a lot of our office stuff um quite frankly you know really represents uh coach B's personality you know in like his style still and then there's a great deal of respect that we want to pay through the tradition and the history of our program um a lot of people will say you know recruiting is the lifeblood of their program and recruiting is important right bringing in new people into your program for the future at North Dakota State we talk a lot about our lifeblood um being the former players and all the the past people that have been involved in our program including coaches and paying respect to them and so the artwork has kind of kind of been here for a minute and they actually asked if I wanted to replace it I said no I want to keep it I want to mandate that we keep it yeah so that's been here for a while it's I mean it's cool it like stands out it was the first thing I noticed when you when you popped up on the zoom screen um the last thing I'll ask you I I know you like to read leadership books I'm a big reader what's the best leadership book that you've read or if you had to give a top three culture code um the program for sure um gosh there's you know that the slight Edge is is really good um good one yeah you know I really have an appreciation for a book called the one big thing and part of it you want to find books that you kind of agree with yeah but that book talks a lot about counterbalance instead of balance in life because if you want to be great at something you know you got to really dedicate your time to it um you know the Legacy the book about the All Blacks is tremendous yeah um the ideal team player is really good and so there's been several The Energy Bus The Energy Bus I like a lot I try to find one or two over the summer to read I'm finishing up uh Tomic habits right now oh that's a good one James Clear yeah he's got a good you know he's got a good newsletter that goes out every week too I've um The Energy Bus I've definitely well I've read a lot of the ones you've said um Energy Bus so Dave stle used to be the coach at Missouri State and he was a huge Energy Bus guy um that was like one of his favorite books so yeah you know what it's probably a book I'd like to what I like to do is read books and then I go while I'm reading I underline things and then I kind of type up my own notes for them but Energy Bus is probably one that wouldn't be bad to revisit yeah you know yeah it's simp simple but it has such a good message to it so yeah you know the other one I guess i' would say and I know coach kimman really appreciates a book called Pound The Stone was really good it's really you know relates well to the kids and the players yeah and so you know one of the things that it's hard like in year one to get everything up and running and implemented when you're trying to hire people you're trying to get to know the kids um but our Leadership School and and our Captain's school is something I look forward to continuing to be a big part of and I think books um you know books and sleep are two things in college football that are underappreciated and I think are two of the best supplements in the world and I you know I did learn that at Iowa as well and so hopefully we can keep kind of driving that to the players here yeah well coach I appreciate you taking the time with me and look forward to getting to know you better as the the season goes on and I'm excited for fall Camp to start yeah you have a great afternoon and I look forward to a future relationship yeah thank you so much