BILLINGS — It’s a coaching matchup 18 years in the making.
Brent Vigen, the calm and tranquil sideline boss at Montana State, and Tim Polasek, the intense and fiery leader at North Dakota State, have a relationship that dates back to when they worked together at NDSU from 2006 to the end of the 2012 season.
Vigen and Polasek took similar career paths to their current head coaching positions, and they’ve remained in contact as friends and confidantes since going their separate ways.
Now fate and favor have led the Craig Bohl disciples to a head-to-head matchup in the FCS national championship game Jan. 6 in Frisco, Texas.
“Tim, probably as much as anybody in the coaching profession, is someone that I’ve stayed in touch with, and I think our relationship is growing,” Vigen said during a press conference Monday. “In some ways we were continuing to grow up together as coaches under coach Bohl.
“I’ve got a great appreciation for Tim and look forward to talking before the game and then walking over to our sideline and letting our teams go at it.”
Vigen’s rise to head-coaching prominence was as steady as it is impressive.
After his playing career with the Bison ended in 1997, the Buxton, N.D., native joined the staff at then-Division II NDSU as a graduate assistant in 1999 and gradually worked his way up coaching tight ends, running backs, quarterbacks and coordinating the passing game before becoming offensive coordinator and QBs coach.
In all, Vigen spent 15 years on the staff at NDSU, culminating in three FCS national titles in 2011, 2012, and 2013.
“Over the years we shared a lot of time together cultivating concepts and program philosophy," Polasek said of his time with Vigen during a separate NDSU press conference Monday. “And he's meant a lot to me, taught me a lot in the years of 2010 and ’11 and ’12 when he was the coordinator here.”
Vigen matriculated to Wyoming in 2014 to serve as OC and QBs coach under Bohl, and spent the final three years of his seven seasons there also with the title of association head coach.
In 2021 he came to Montana State as head coach, and has forged a 47-9 overall record (15-0 this season) with two Big Sky Conference titles and what is now the Bobcats’ second trip to the FCS title game in his tenure.
Polasek’s journey is similar. Twice he replaced Vigen as offensive coordinator, once at North Dakota State and again at Wyoming when Vigen left to fill the Bobcats’ vacancy.
Both men laughed Monday about how Polasek even purchased Vigen’s house in Laramie, Wyo., when Polasek came on to be the coordinator with the Cowboys when Vigen left.
The 2024 season is Polasek’s first as a head coach. He’s so far guided the Bison to a 13-2 record and a return trip to the FCS championship game, the program’s 11th visit to Frisco in the past 14 years.
The championship game is a rematch of 2021, when the Bison dominated the Bobcats 38-10 to win their ninth crown since 2011.
“I think it was apparent that here's a guy that had a whole lot of energy, was passionate about the game, would work his tail off, and that's what was the first impression,” Vigen said of working with Polasek.
“I had good faith that Tim would go there and continue moving things forward.”
For all the goodwill, it will be a battle of wills on Jan. 6 under the lights at Toyota Stadium as the Bobcats try to snap a 40-year championship drought and as the Bison attempt to return to the pedestal they’ve held for so long at the FCS level.
Vigen and Polasek are both seeking their first title as a head coach.
“I texted him the other night,” Polasek said. “I just said, Brent, this is pretty cool. I don't know if it'll get to an emotional spot for us, but we really have gotten tighter and tighter over the years. Obviously the relationship changes when you know you're going to play because you're not sharing ideas and thoughts.”
Said Vigen: “I think we see the game in a common way. We're different personality-wise, for sure, but I think when it comes down to the game of football and relationships and how you go about your business, I think we’re very similar.”
But only one can come away as the winner next Monday night.
