“He's making his dream come true”: Polasek fueled by competitive fire and desire to lead

Mar. 7—LARAMIE — As far as defining moments are concerned, Sam Ojuri didn't have a ton of time to think over what was about to happen. He just sort of went with it.

When you're a freshman college football player, you do what you're told, even when you're a quintessential deer in the headlights.

And when it's Tim Polasek telling you to do something, you take extra care to do it.

Formerly a graduate assistant at the University of Wyoming and now the running backs coach at Illinois State, Ojuri fondly remembers the day of reckoning: Oct. 3, 2009. He was just a freshman running back at North Dakota State, a program just about to start its ascent to the top of the smaller-college football world under then-head coach Craig Bohl.

Earlier in the season, Ojuri had admittedly gone through some rough patches, including a trip to the scout team. Every college football player is used to being the big man on campus when he roamed the halls of his high school. But when a teenager gets to college, the lesson in humility can be paralyzing.

There to help pull him out of a funk was Polasek. At the time he was NDSU's running backs coach. Polasek later became the offensive coordinator for the Bison, the offensive line coach at the University of Iowa and was recently hired as Bohl's offensive coordinator at UW to take the place of the recently departed Brent Vigen, who took the head coaching job at Montana State in February.

Polasek certainly won't coddle players, but he has a way of getting everyone on the same page. He understands people. His passion for his craft is evident, even in a Zoom call. His hands do as much talking as his words do. By nearly all accounts, the man was born to coach.

"We want to be player led. And in order for us to know what you can get out of each and every guy, you have to know where they're from, what really drives them, what makes them tick," Polasek said.

For Ojuri, the boost he needed came in the form of a chat with a team leader, fellow running back Pat Paschall. It was Polasek who sent Paschall Ojuri's direction, knowing the youngster was feeling down. It might not seem like much, but it's a memory Ojuri can't forget. It was formative, and it has helped pushed him on his own coaching path.

Ojuri wants to follow in his mentor's footsteps. He wants to have that same impact on someone else, to make a difference in a young man's life.

So when Polasek literally pushed him onto the field during that 2009 game against Illinois State, without so much as a warning, you can be sure Ojuri listened. To this day, he can't help but laugh at their "chat."

"We're down by a touchdown ... he grabs me by the back and says, 'Go (expletive) score,'" Ojuri said with a hearty laugh. "And I scored."

The Bison wound up losing that game 27-24 and finished the season 3-8. But that touchdown, one of just 32 carries he had as a freshman, was a piece of history Ojuri carries with him. After redshirting in 2010, Ojuri was the leading rusher on three consecutive national title winning teams under Bohl, and went on to become the school's fourth all-time leading rusher.

And the legend of Polasek started to grow.

Everyone has a Tim Polasek story. The anecdote usually involves his small-town upbringing in Iola, Wisconsin, a ferocious tenacity and an occasional bout of profanity. But those who know him best all agree on one thing: the man has done everything in his power to make it to where he is.

And every single day, he's proving he belongs in the coaching world.

"Tim is that example out there," his childhood friend and high school teammate Kurt Kielblock said. "You put your energy into something, you can make your dreams come true ... He's making his dream come true."

"Always in command"

Iola is located a couple hours north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It has a population of about 1,300 people and is best known for an annual car show. During this event, the population of the town grows nearly thousand-fold. The go-to spot in town is its lone bowling alley, Silver Lakes Lanes.

You've probably heard cliché stories about "one traffic light towns." That's one more light than Iola has.

"There is no traffic light," Scott Erickson, Polasek's head coach at Iola-Scandinavia High, said with a laugh. "You have to go a couple towns over."

Kielblock grew up with Polasek. Polasek was the star senior quarterback when Kielblock was a high school freshman. Polasek also later coached him at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the first of Polasek's handful of coaching stops.

There's a legendary tale involving Polasek that was recounted by The Athletic last May that Kielblock can confirm occurred. When Bohl called to offer Polasek a job as a graduate assistant at NDSU in the mid-2000s, it caught him off guard. He was actually out logging at the time with Kielblock's brother and father. Kielblock's father gave Polasek the job as a way to make a little extra cash.

As the story goes, Polasek got the call from Bohl and had to quite literally stop his chainsaw to answer the phone. Polasek asked Bohl how long it took to get to Fargo. Bohl said seven or eight hours.

Polasek set down his logging equipment, drove home, packed up — probably had a beer, per Kielblock — and set off on his latest adventure. Polasek didn't have enough money for gas to make it to North Dakota, however, so he sold his beloved golf driver for $250.

"I'll be there in nine (hours)," Kielblock remembers Polasek telling Bohl.

As a high school freshman, Polasek stood about 5-foot-4 and 140 pounds "soaking wet," according to Erickson. Polasek would eventually grow to a suitable size — he left high school in 1998 at nearly 200 pounds and was about 6 feet tall, Erickson said — but there were two constants he never had to grow into: a rifle right arm and an ability to lead.

In many ways, Erickson and Polasek are uniquely intertwined. Erickson's first season as head coach was Polasek's freshman season. Erickson also grew up in the area and was uniquely positioned to see Polasek sprout from youngster to young man. And, in a town like Iola, it's hard not to know everyone.

Growing up in small-town America forms you differently than growing up in a metropolis might. You take a unique interest in people. As much as Polasek's arm stood out to Erickson (he's seen him throw a football 70 yards), it was the way he put together pickup games for his classmates in elementary school and orchestrated recess that still leaves Erickson in awe. People just gravitate toward him.

"He was always in command," Erickson said. "He was a catalyst with everything that happened at the school."

From a young age, Polasek had an intensity and competitive fire that were rare. His antics of determination are the stuff of legend in his hometown. Polasek maxing-out in the weight room before dropping 25 points in a basketball game still sticks out to Erickson two decades after the fact.

During a routine basketball practice, Kielblock was playing what he deemed "pesky defense" on Polasek. His job was to annoy Polasek. Eventually, Polasek had enough of Kielblock, purposely elbowed him across the jaw and knocked him to the floor so he could get in position to score.

And that was that.

"He'd sell his soul if he could get what he wanted," Erickson said with a chuckle.

"He cares so much"

A story Bohl likes to recall is when Polasek was first hired at North Dakota State. It was not unusual for the maintenance staff to find the then-graduate assistant sleeping on the field of the Fargo Dome. It got to the point they actually had to kick him out.

But Polasek's "work sleepovers" started long before he got to Fargo.

Following a record-setting career at Division III Concordia University in Wisconsin, where he became the school's all-time leading passer and is a member of the program's hall of fame, Polasek took a job at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, another small school about 25 miles away from Iola.

Polasek's first job was as passing game coordinator and as quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends coach in 2003. By 2005, he was the special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach. It would not be the last time Polasek coached a group he wasn't particularly familiar with. He took the vaunted offensive line coaching job at Iowa having never coached the position.

Kielblock came to Stevens Point as a wide receiver, and his former high school teammate was his first position coach. Polasek was working on his master's degree while he was coaching, and seeing him asleep in the film room following a night of studying or working was not uncommon.

"He'd be watching film, go to class ... and then he would stay up and do his thesis," Kielblock said. "(And we'd come to practice), and there's Tim lying on the damn couch."

Ojuri distinctly remembers that, in typical young college football assistant coach fashion, Polasek used to butt heads with the team's fullbacks. The fullbacks, of course, were wearing helmets. Polasek was not. A bloodied forehead was not an unfamiliar sight.

But that same young man also went out of his way to figure out how to best reach every one of his players. There's a passion to Polasek, but there is also nuance. It can't be all "rah-rah."

"He made football fun, just with the passion and energy he brought every day. ... He cares so much, and he knows so much," Ojuri said. "(But) he's a teacher first. He finds different ways to connect."

For example, Polasek knows that not every player learns best during walkthroughs at practice. Some learn better through visualizing plays diagrammed on a white board. Everyone learns in a slightly different manner, and learning how each player takes information in is of the utmost importance.

It's also knowing which players need to be yelled at (Polasek isn't afraid to do that, Ojuri notes), which ones must be lectured and which need to be pulled aside and chatted with calmly. It all goes back to knowing people.

And because Polasek invests so much into others, the recipients of that investment feel obligated to come through for him.

"He's able to see different personalities, try to make everybody comfortable. But at the same time, he'll demand the most," Ojuri said. "You don't feel bad that he came after you. You feel bad that your performance wasn't up to his standard."

Three seasons ago, Iola-Scandinavia went 14-0 and won the 2018 Division 6 state championship. In a wild turn of events, it was a series of phone calls with Polasek that helped coach up Erickson leading up to the title. Student became teacher.

Not every instructor can stomach taking lessons from a former pupil. It can be a tough pill to swallow, asking for help. But it wasn't that way for Erickson. As one might with his own kin, he's happy to see a former player flourish. Polasek has earned it.

"He just has this energy, this drive, this motivation. He wants to be the best, and he wants everyone around him to be the best," Erickson said. "Tim and I have always had a special bond. He's like another son."

"Football family"

When Ojuri's own illustrious football career ended, a passion still burned within. He missed football. So he called up his old positional coach, who wasn't quite sure how serious Ojuri was about following his blueprint. When Polasek realized his protégé was serious, he started pushing him in the right direction.

In an ironic twist of fate, Ojuri's first coaching gig was at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where his mentor started years before.

Working Division III football is a different type of lifestyle. It is far from glorious. In addition to being an assistant coach, Ojuri was the Pointers' lead equipment manager.

It's certainly not a path for everyone, and, for some, it might be disheartening. But Ojuri had the constant support of Polasek, who helped him climb every ladder along the way. When Polasek was at Iowa, he had Ojuri help work his camps. If Ojuri had a question, Polasek's phone was always on.

Mentorship didn't stop when Ojuri graduated. The best teachers always have more lessons up their sleeves. And Ojuri can't help but want to be that shoulder to lean on for someone else, like Polasek was for him.

"To be honest, I haven't found (many people) like Coach Polasek, as a player and coach. He's helped me so much," Ojuri said. "There's not a lot of guys like Coach Polasek."

Erickson tries to stay out of Polasek's business and not be too nosy, knowing his former quarterback is busy. But the two are still in contact, largely through text messaging. They also get together when Polasek comes back home.

Polasek doesn't have a ton of hobbies outside of football. That one-track mind has him focused on the inner workings of his craft on a constant basis, Erickson said. But the two share a common love of cooking — particularly, barbecuing. Polasek has gotten good at making ribs and wings, Erickson notes.

The two recently touched base when Polasek took the offensive coordinator job in Laramie. Erickson said he received a simple text: "Coach, I'm packing for Laramie!"

"It's a special thing, to have that relationship with your players," Erickson said. "We always call it a football family. And once you're in it, you're in it."

Some people try their hardest to leave their past in the rearview mirror. Polasek left home in order to follow his dreams, but he never wanted to leave it forever.

Every step along the way has been a lesson learned for UW's new offensive coordinator. Every every player he's coached, every fullback he's head-butted, every office he's slept in, every coach he's played for or learned under, has played a part in his unique journey.

Even that golf club he sold two decades ago for gas money tells a story he's happy to tell.

"The part that gets left out is just how generous the guy was. ... He basically ended up giving me the $250 to get to Fargo. I'll never forget that," Polasek said. "I have a strong appreciation for everybody that's in Iola, Wisconsin."

Michael Katz covers the University of Wyoming for WyoSports. He can be reached at [email protected] or 307-755-3325. Follow him on Twitter at @michaellkatz.

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