Bison Football Fans Lose A Vital Piece to This Years Championship Team

There’s an old saying that goes something like this, “there’s a price to pay for success”. Normally that implies that sacrifices are made to get to the pay off point. 

But if you are an FCS or lower tiered FBS football team, that probably means you lose coaches and players to bigger programs that can offer bigger paychecks.  

The North Dakota State University Bison have been in this position before and they find themselves in it again. Reports state that Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach Jake Landry is leaving the school for Iowa State to be their running backs coach.  

Landry, who spent the 2022 season with St. Thomas University in St. Paul, was only in Fargo for the 2024 season which ended with the Bison winning their 10th FCS National Championship in January. 

The Bison finished 3rd in FCS in scoring at just over 38 points per game and 20th in total offense with more than 417 yards per game.  

Some may call this a set-back, but with a powerhouse like NDSU, Head Coach Tim Polasek will have no shortage of interested coaches. The main thing will be finding someone who understands what the offense for North Dakota State is; which is power running, physical offensive line play and a big play producing passing game.  

Believe it or not, not every offensive coach will fit that description, especially in a pass-first society that would rather see 50-yard pass plays down field, than a 50-yard run, breaking through the line. 

As someone who saw firsthand, three times, between 2016 and 2020 when I broadcast games for James Madison University, what NDSU has been able to do is special, it’s unique, it’s to be envied. Not just anybody can play there, and not just anybody can coach there.  

This will be an interesting opening to watch: (a who gets the job and (b how quickly they fit into the style that is North Dakota State Football. 

The Bison don’t re-stock players and coaches, they just re-load.