Brent Pollari comes to South Dakota Mines after a seven-year stint as the head coach at Wayne State College, an NCAA DII institution in the NSIC. In his time with the Wildcats, Pollari compiled a 75-103 record from 2018-25. Pollari has coached numerous all-conference and all-region players at Wayne State.Â
Pollari has coaching experience at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels along with four years of high school experience. Prior to his tenure at Wayne State, Pollari spent three seasons (2015-18) as head coach at NCAA Division III St. Mary’s University in Minnesota, compiling a 50-29 record and two trips to the MIAC playoffs. Pollari’s 2015-16 team at St. Mary’s was 21-6, earning MIAC Coach of the Year honors.
Pollari also served one year as an assistant coach at Minnesota State (2014-15), helping the Mavericks reach the NCAA Division II National Tournament with a 21-10 record. He also spent one year as an assistant at Division I North Dakota (2013-14), helping the school win the Big Sky Conference title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Other coaching stops for Pollari include six years as associate head coach at Northern State where he was recruiting coordinator and head junior varsity coach, helping the Wolves reach the NCAA Division II National Tournament in the 2010-11 season.
Pollari also served as assistant coach/interim head coach at Texas A&M Kingsville (2006-07), was a graduate assistant at Northern State (2004-06) and assistant for one season (2001-02) at Montana State.
High school coaching experience for Pollari includes two years as head girls basketball coach at Corvallis High School in Corvallis, Montana, one year as assistant at Bozeman High School in Bozeman, Montana, and one year at Bismarck St. Mary’s High School in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Pollari obtained his bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from the University of Mary in 2001 and earned a master’s degree from Northern State in 2006 in Physical Education, Health and Coaching.
