From the Fall 2026 issue of Bison Illustrated.
Photo by Gavin Fernholz, Dynamic Studios.
Grant Olson has experienced NDSU’s championship tradition from both sides of the sideline. A former All-American Bison linebacker, Olson won three FCS national championships as a player and has been part of four more as a coach. He returned to NDSU as linebackers coach in 2019 and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2024. During his playing career, Olson set an NDSU single-game record with 29 tackles against Wofford in the 2012 playoffs and earned Associated Press All-America honors in 2013. His coaching résumé also includes stops at Wyoming and Indiana State.
Q: Going into your third season as the defensive coordinator here for the NDSU Bison, what gives you the most fuel to keep showing up every day and giving them all you’ve got?
Grant Olson: Right now, it’s just the young men. I love these young men. They’re such phenomenal people. I’m willing to work really hard and continue to pour into them, especially because of how hard they work and how they treat people. I love those guys to death. If they keep doing that, I’ll keep pouring into them.
Q: What excites you most about the move to the Mountain West, and what opportunities do you think it will give the guys?
Olson: Number one, just the increased competition level. We’ve played some great teams, and I’m not knocking FCS football in any capacity, but week in and week out, it’s going to be a tougher challenge. We’re going to be going against some different teams, and it’ll be fun to see new schemes, defend different things, travel to different places and experience a different competition level overall. That’s the number one thing I’m excited for.
Q: I think that’s what a lot of fans are really excited about as well. I was talking with Head Coach Tim Polasek about the amount of different travel you guys are going to be doing and the challenges that’s going to provide with night games, rest and recovery time, and everything like that. He brought up a few things you guys plan to implement, but what do you think you’ll be doing for your guys to help ease into this transition?
Olson: That’s a great question. I think it’s continuing to educate them about having a good routine, going to sleep and understanding how we get back into a routine.
I watch my wife do it a lot through professional golf. If you get back late, you’ve got to get back into your rhythm as fast as possible. Those are some things I’m hoping I can help with, and I’ve got to do a good job myself. We’re all in this together. I’ve got to get my sleep when I have the opportunity to.
Q: Routines are definitely going to be important. You guys are going to Hawaii, too. That’s going to be fun to watch. Is there a particular opponent you’re most looking forward to seeing this year?
Olson: Not particularly. I say that because right now I couldn’t even tell you who our seventh game of the year is. I have no idea.
I’ve got one team that I’m worried about, and honestly, it’s ours. It’s about getting better. We’ll start worrying about Jacksonville State here in a little bit, but during fall camp, I could care less about any other team in the country. It’s about improvement.
I’ve learned that through many years, especially taking it one game at a time and not looking ahead. I can promise you right now, I honestly don’t know what the end of our schedule looks like. That’s not my job. My job is to pour into these guys, coach them and get ready for Jacksonville State.
Q: For this offseason in particular and this fall camp, is there anything you’ve been changing with the regimen because of the increased competition, or are you keeping the same fundamentals, maybe just with a bigger chip on your shoulder?
Olson: I think overall, every year you’re probably adjusting your schemes a little bit. What do we do well? What didn’t we do well?
Right now, we’ve got so many new faces that we’ve really tried to keep things simple early and find out what our players do well. What they do well is a little bit different based on the individual, but then from there, it’s about figuring out how we’re going to tailor our scheme and our plays this year to make sure we highlight what they do really well.
That’s what’s been a little bit different this year compared to last year, when I had a little bit more veteran of a group and we had more guys with some Bison experience.
Q: I’ve been talking to some of the guys about the nerves they might be feeling when they face Jacksonville State in the Fargodome. What’s your job as a coach in helping keep those nerves down, grounding your guys and making sure they’re ready to go out and compete?
Olson: I think it’s just reminding them that it’s still football. It’s still 11-on-11, still 100 yards, the end zones are the same size and everything is still the same. It’s just another football game, and that’s how we’re going to approach every single game.
You can’t go and win a conference championship in your first week, but you can go out, fly around in the first quarter and play hard. You can prepare really hard in August. Let’s focus on the controllables, and we’ll let the results handle themselves.
Q: Last question: What’s your message to NDSU fans who are anticipating this upcoming season?
Olson: Be excited. We are excited. Show up. Support these guys. Come be a part of something special.
This is going to be a great opportunity for us to go out and compete and have an amazing, amazing season.
Read the Fall 2026 magazine feature.
