About Matt Larsen
Matt Larsen is the Director of Athletics at North Dakota State University, a role he has held since October 2014, when he became the 18th athletics director in school history. Before arriving in Fargo, Larsen spent 19 years at Stony Brook University in New York, where he built a reputation as a steady, detail-driven administrator with a strong financial and operations background. At Stony Brook, he served as the athletic department’s chief financial officer and helped oversee the management of a $24.5 million budget. At NDSU, Larsen has overseen a period of growth across the department-expanding budgets, fundraising, scholarships, and facility investment-while helping position Bison athletics for long-term competitiveness. He has also earned national recognition for his leadership, including being named one of NACDA’s Athletics Directors of the Year in the Football Championship Subdivision.
Q & A
Q: What excites you most about this transition with the football team?
A: There are a lot of pieces.
Institutionally, former President Cook and I have talked a lot about playing football at the highest level, but also aligning NDSU with very like institutions and building our national brand and visibility. Joining the Mountain West, which has high academic and high athletic programs, plus the visibility of their media contract, which really runs nationally, was a great step for us. What it does for the visibility and the brand of the university was a big part of this decision.
From a football perspective, it’s all the things we’ve talked about. I’d argue we’ve been an FBS program in a lot of ways already. Now we’ll actually have the moniker. We’ll compete week in and week out against the FBS. And it’s an opportunity for us to play against the best competition in the country and have the opportunity to compete- whether that’s CFP, bowl games, whatever it might be.
Q: Could you point to any specific programs you’re trying to model the transition after?
A: When you look at the Mountain West, UNLV and Nevada, Wyoming, Air Force, as one of the academies with a national fan base, University of New Mexico-a lot of those programs are large public institutions that mirror what we do here philosophically, academically, and research-wise.
And athletically, they’re committed to high-level athletics. We are too, and have been for decades. So that fit, philosophically, academically, and athletically, is really strong for us.
Q: When did you guys start dreaming about this? It had to be a while ago
A: Probably four or five years ago.
Early on, in the middle of my 12 years here, people were asking, “When are we going FBS?” At that time, I would’ve said, ‘On the field, we can compete week in and week out. But everything surrounding the program-support staff, facilities, and financial support-those are the things you need. Over the last 12 years, we’ve built those. And about five years ago, we started looking at opportunities and saying, ‘if this is something we want to do, we need to prepare the football ops, staffing, scholarships, cost of attendance, Alston awards for academic success, facilities, and start building the plan so that if a chance comes, we’re ready!
So when the official offer came a few weeks ago, we felt ready. We had the plan. We executed the plan. The pieces were in place to go into FBS and not have to catch up, but to be ready to compete right away.
Q: How long do you think you’ve been “Ready”?
A: Probably the last two years.
The indoor facility was a huge piece recruiting-wise, and allowing us to train year-round. But also the new-world stuff that didn’t exist three or four years ago: NIL, revenue share, donor support, Alston awards, and the amount we’re investing back into student-athletes financially. We’re on par with a lot of schools. So over the last two years, adapting to the changes in college athletics, I think we’ve done a good job.
Q: How do you think this raises the bar for other athletic programs?
A: A high tide raises all boats. We invest to compete for championships, but there’s also something motivational about looking around and seeing success across the department. You see track, basketball, and baseball as programs having real success. Elevating one program helps visibility for others. And there may be opportunities for Olympic sports to recruit from some of the locales football will be traveling to. Any time one program has success, it helps the others with visibility, opportunity, all of it.
Q: I’ve heard student-athletes talk about coming to football games during their recruiting trips, and that atmosphere being a factor. This adds another layer, right?
A: It does. Student-athletes don’t come here for one thing. It’s the full offering of academics, facilities, financial support, fan/community support-all of it. And even if you’re a softball or track athlete, you look across the department to see if there is success across the board? We’ve sustained that across our Division I history, and it becomes an expectation. Recruits, assistant coaches, and head coaches expect we’re going to compete for championships here. Raising the profile of programs lifts everybody.
Q: What does success look like in the next five to ten years?
A: Most programs are measured by on-field success, right? And our investment plan focuses on what directly impacts that, which is scholarships, revenue share/NIL, and building a roster that’s competitive from day one.
I can’t predict exact win totals, but if we build the right structure and support, we have an unbelievable coaching staff led by Coach Polasek. We’re great teachers and developers, and we’ll keep doing that. So success to me is competing for Mountain West championships, and doing it within the first few years we’re in.
Q: I hate phrasing it negatively, but what “Problems” are you trying to solve with this transition?
A: I don’t know if it’s solving problems as much as embracing opportunity. Going back to the late 90s, when the institution decided to go Division I, it was about building a national brand. FCS has great visibility, but FBS is a different level with national TV opportunities. And NDSU’s DNA is competing for championships at the highest level possible. This gives us a pathway to do that at the Division I level across our sports. So less “problem-solving,” more “embracing opportunity,” and living up to our potential as an institution.
Q: Have there been talks with Missouri valley teams about future non-conference games?
A: Not yet, mainly because our immediate focus is filling the 2026 schedule. Our current Valley games will come off, and we don’t have those non-conference slots filled right now. But we’re open. Our goal is to have an FCS program on the schedule every year, if it works out. Could some of those be Missouri Valley? Sure-they’re regional and make sense. It’ll come down to availability and fit.
Q: What’s something the community might misunderstand about the transition?
A: All the moving parts. At some level, people see that we’re playing 12 different teams now. But what people may not see is the behind- the-scenes lift, which includes additional staff and an increased level of investment in everything around the program. The addition of 22 scholarships is a big example-it directly impacts financial support for student-athletes, recruiting, and retention. Practice is practice. Lifting is lifting. The offseason will look similar in a lot of ways. The heavy lift is the off-the- field infrastructure.
Q: And I think people might not understand what a heavy lift this was for you all, on top of normal jobs.
A: The good thing is we’ve got an unbelievable team of administrators and coaches who care. And this didn’t happen overnight. This has been five to ten years in the making. Decisions were made to position us for future opportunities-not just with football, but across the department. We didn’t have to build facilities overnight. We didn’t have to increase scholarships overnight. We didn’t have to build our NIL reserve overnight. We did it over time.
Q: What would you say to fans WHO argue it was more interesting constantly competing for national championships than what you’ll face now?
A: Fair question.
If this were seven or eight years ago, when only four teams had a CFP opportunity, I’d agree. But now it’s 12 teams and will likely be 16 at some point, maybe 24 down the road.
I’ve always said that I want the opportunity to compete. You’re not guaranteed anything at the FCS level either- you still have to invest, develop, and grow. And when you see James Madison—a team we beat in the FargoDome in 2021-go compete on the biggest stage with the CFP, it shows there’s a pathway.
So our goals don’t change. People say, “You’ll never win a national championship.” You don’t know until you get in and fight for it. We have a pathway, and that’s the important thing. We’re going to do our darndest to get the opportunity to keep getting better.
Q: What would you say to readers about the financial side? How can they help?
A: A couple of ways.
The Climb the Mountain campaign has already started. People can donate, and that directly supports the move and transition.
Equally as important, maybe even more, become a season ticket holder. We need to sell the Dome out again. Part of why we’re in this position is that we’ve had one of the best home-field advantages and environments in the country. We need that back. New teams are coming in; let’s introduce them to what the FargoDome really is.
And there are other ways. Donate to the Green and Gold Fund, which supports NIL. And I’d also say, people think, “If I can’t donate $10,000, it doesn’t matter.” That’s not true. $25 a month matters. No dollar is too big or too small. Every donor, every dollar, has an impact.
Q: Is there anything you want to say to readers about the transition?
A: This is as much about our fan base as it is about our football program and university.
We wouldn’t be here without our fans, season ticket holders, donors, alumni. Their support over the last 50-60 years is why we can do this. Other universities would love to do this, but they don’t have the infrastructure and support.
So this is for our fan base as much as anybody.
