Timeline: Polasek to Remain Wyoming OC Until NDSU Called

LARAMIE -- "Start thinking about opening this thing up a little bit."

Those were direct marching orders on Dec. 6, 2023 from a rookie head coach to his veteran offensive coordinator. In layman's terms it meant: Let's spread it out and be more dynamic on that side of the ball.

As quickly as that plan came together, it fell apart.

That duo was together all of 11 days.

Jay Sawvel was tabbed as Craig Bohl's heir apparent on that early winter afternoon, just days after the Cowboys wrapped up an 8-4 regular season. He became the 33rd head coach in program history. It was his first -- at any level -- with the big whistle around his neck.

The tentative plan was to keep the current staff mainly intact. That included the fiery, emotional play-caller Tim Polasek.

"'I want you to be the guy that does it,'" Polasek recalled Sawvel telling him in his Laramie office. "He had a vision for it, offensively, and at the time, at that moment, I was like, 'Hell yeah, let's rock and roll.'"

Matt Larsen had other ideas.

The long-time athletic director at North Dakota State was very familiar with Polasek. They spent three seasons together in Fargo before the latter accepted the offensive line coach position at the University of Iowa. After the abrupt departure of head coach Matt Entz, who went to USC for a year to be a linebackers coach and is now in his second season as the boss at Fresno State, Larsen said he didn't even think about flipping through the rolodex let alone hiring a search firm.

"Tim was my first call," Larsen said last July at Mountain West Media Days in Las Vegas. "So, myself, our president and two other senior-level administrators flew out to Laramie."

There was someone waiting for them on the tarmac, too -- Bohl.

"He had it all set up," Larsen continued. "We met in the alumni center, had a room, and spent three or four hours with Tim. Unbelievable conversations. It was like Craig was a proud father.

"He was very instrumental."

Larsen said from start to finish, it took roughly 48 hours to land their man.

Polasek reiterated this week that he planned to stay in Laramie and started making future plans for a new and improved scheme. When he heard that the NDSU job was open, though, admittedly, he was intrigued.

"My wheels were turning and shifting gears pretty quickly to: how can we make this happen to come back to Fargo and to be at North Dakota State?" he told the local media, apparently the largest throng of reporters to be at a press conference since he arrived three years ago.

Sawvel said "two or three days" after he took the reins of the Wyoming program, Polasek told him about that upcoming meeting with NDSU officials. The main focus at the time, he added, was preparing for the upcoming Arizona Bowl, the final game of Bohl's illustrious career. Secondly, he knew his OC's heart was in the frozen tundra.

"Tim got a great opportunity at a place that he loves, a place that he's worked at before and had success," Sawvel said. "That was a great move for him. It was tremendous."

That's an understatement.

Polasek has now coached 33 games. He's won 30 of those, including the FCS National Championship -- the program's 18th overall -- in just his second season. The Bison made the move to the FBS ahead of the 2026 campaign. They haven't skipped a beat, either, moving to 4-0 after a 31-10 road victory at Sacramento State two weeks ago.

Sawvel's transition hasn't gone so smoothly.

The 55-year old is just 9-19 as the head man. Two of those wins have come this fall, both inside War Memorial Stadium. He's claimed just five conference victories in 16 tries. Wyoming hasn't been to the postseason since Bohl rode off into the sunset.

All worlds will collide Saturday inside a sold-out Fargodome. Bohl will be in attendance watching his two beloved teams -- and his son Aaron Bohl, Wyoming's current defensive coordinator -- in the first-ever Battle of the Basins. The winner will take home a drill bit that sits atop a wooden base. Polasek on one sideline, Sawvel on the other.

While this isn't a rivalry quite yet, it appears to have all the makings of one.

"I think they're getting ready over there for a really physical football game and I think we've had a great two weeks of prep here," Polasek said. "In these two teams, the DNA, how we go about our business, the development of what we think about football and how to play football, there's some similarities here."

Sawvel agrees, wholeheartedly.

"It's great because, I think, as far as geography and cultures go, this is the most natural rival that they could have in this conference, right?" he said. "So, when you get to that, why not?"

Kickoff between the Cowboys (2-2, 1-0) and Bison (4-0, 1-0) is slated for 1:30 p.m. Mountain Time and the game will be televised on The CW.

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