New Bison coach Tim Polasek getting used to Bohl's old chair

For one, the office that was built when Craig Bohl was in office from 2003-13 still has that new-car look. For another, the players returned to school this week with the program beginning winter workouts.

Speaking of Bohl, he stopped by the Fargodome facility to see the new head Bison football coach and offered Polasek this bit of advice:

“He said, congratulations on quitting coaching football,” Polasek said this week. “Now you’re in the head coaching chair. Yeah, I know it’s not as much about ball. I’ll have to get my fix but I’m really comfortable now.”

The near-future timeline for the Bison players is as follows: winter workouts for the next seven weeks, spring football starts March 19 and ends with a yet-to-be-planned final event on April 20. There’s recruiting, there’s getting to know the players and there’s further getting to know a few of his assistants that he didn’t know from his previous stop at NDSU.

This week started on another reunited tone in the return of assistant strength and conditioning coach Ryan Napoli, who will work alongside veteran strength coach Jim Kramer.

“I’m excited to watch it from afar because Jim is the ultimate leader,” Polasek said. “The kids over the years and the seniors speak so highly of him.”

The hiring of Napoli, Polasek said, is aimed at taking some of the load off of Kramer, a one-man band for the entire football team. Napoli was at NDSU from 2011-16, left for the head position at Southeast Missouri State for six years, with one year between two stints at SEMO spent at Northern Illinois.

Polasek likes the fact Napoli was at NDSU, saw what life is like at other schools, and returned.

“You’re infusing someone who is super excited to be back here, I think he feels that strongly about this place,” he said. “Those two being able to work in separate areas at separate times when we have groups going is going to be very impactful.”

Football programs like NDSU do not underscore the value of strength and conditioning coaches, who generally are with the players more than the coaches from February through the end of July.

“Not exclusively,” Polasek said. “We have to bridge that gap nowadays more than ever. We have to be around a little bit more in this era.”

It’s doubtful the Bison will bring in anybody else from the transfer portal other than offensive lineman Trent Fraley from Marshall.

“I think that would be pretty difficult at this point,” Polasek said.

He said the coaches will assess the roster in the middle of spring football, at the end of spring and gauge any potential attrition.

“The numbers were in better shape than I would have anticipated,” Polasek said.

He hasn’t had much of a chance to study film of the team he inherited, instead relying on his assistant coaches.

“It’s a new role, to be away from watching football or studying a specific thing,” Polasek said. “This is the longest I’ve gone in 22 years. Over the course of the next two, three, four weeks, I’d really like to get a handle on at least the top 22 on both sides of the ball from a film standpoint and generate my own opinion but I’m still going to leverage the assistant coaches.”

Newly-appointed defensive coordinator Grant Olson will remain handling the linebackers. Polasek still has to hire a safeties assistant coach. The coaching roles for special teams, which Olson handled for the most part last year, will be decided later.

“I don’t think we have to be in any rush to label a coordinator,” Polasek said.