Football comes full circle for Lane, Polasek

Most people didn't realize it at the time. A recent college football game in Kentucky had a pair of connections to Iola-Scandinavia High School and its football program.

Murray State University retired Austen Lane's jersey - No. 97 - Oct. 26 prior to the Racers' home game against North Dakota State.

Lane graduated from Iola-Scandinavia High School in 2010 while Tim Polasek, North Dakota State's first-year head coach, graduated from I-S in 1998.

Lane played defensive lineman for the Racers from 2006-09 before the Jacksonville Jaguars selected him in the fifth round 2010 NFL Draft.

He started 40 of 43 games for the Jaguars from 2010-12 before spending time with the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions in 2013 and the Chicago Bears in 2014.

Lane's accomplishments at Murray State, located in Murray, Kentucky,  include school records in sacks (29) and tackles for loss (55).

He announced his retirement from the NFL in 2015 and is now a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter.

Polasek played his college football at Concordia College in Mequon, where he played quarterback from 1998-2001.

He started his college coaching career in 2003 at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point as the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends coach. He added special teams coordinator responsibilities in 2004 and was the special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach in 2005.

Polasek left UW-Stevens Point in 2006 to join North Dakota State's coaching staff as a graduate assistant and served as the program's running backs coach from 2007-11. The Bison won a Division 1 national championship in 2012 with Polasek serving as the team's special teams coordinator, tight ends coach and fullbacks coach.

He joined Northern Illinois as the Huskies' tight ends and fullbacks coach in 2013, but returned to Fargo, North Dakota, the following year to take over as the team's offensive coordinator and running backs coach. He remained in Fargo until the end of the 2016 season after the Bison won two more national championships.

Polasek left Fargo a second time in 2017 to become the offensive line coach at Iowa, where he remained until 2020. He reunited with former North Dakota State coach Craig Bohl in 2021 as Wyoming's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

He returned to Fargo a third time in December 2023 after being named North Dakota State's new coach.

The Bison shared this year's Missouri Valley Football Conference championship with South Dakota State and opened the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs on Dec. 7 with a 51-31 win over Abilene Christian. Second-seeded North Dakota State will now face No. 7 Mercer in a quarterfinal game on Saturday, Dec. 14.