Wayne State College

            Brent Pollari is in his seventh season (2024-25) as Head Women's Basketball Coach at Wayne State College. He was named the 11th head coach in the 54-year history of Wildcat women's basketball on June 14th, 2018. In his six years at Wayne State, Pollari has coached the Wildcats to records of 64-87 overall and 42-80 in NSIC games.
            WSC was 7-18 overall and 4-18 in the NSIC (14th place) during the 2023-24 season under Pollari.  The 'Cats closed the season with a 13-point rally in the fourth quarter to edge Northern State (20-9) 67-65 at Rice Auditorium.    
            Wayne State finished the 2022-23 season at 11-16 overall and fifth place in the NSIC South Division with a 7-15 league record.  Senior guard Lauren Zacharias earned All-NSIC Second Team honors for the 'Cats averaging 15.5 points per game to rank ninth in the league.    
            In the 2021-22 season, Wayne State was 9-15 overall and placed seventh in the NSIC South with a 6-14 league record.  The Wildcats featured the NSIC South Division Player of the Year for a second straight season as senior guard Kylie Hammer led the NSIC in scoring at 20.1 points per game, becoming just the third player in school history to average more than 20 points per contest.  Hammer later was named D2CCA All-Central Region First Team and received CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team honors to mark the third straight season WSC women's basketball had an Academic All-American.
            WSC posted records of 6-10 overall and 5-9 in the NSIC South Division in the 2021-COVID shortened season.  Senior forward Erin Norling was voted NSIC South Division Player of the Year and earned All-NSIC First Team honors for a third straight season.  She was also awarded the inaugural NSIC Outstanding Senior of the Year and earned CoSIDA Academic All-American Third Team honors, becoming the first-ever Wildcat women's basketball player to be a repeat Academic All-American.  Senior guard Halley Busse was a repeat All-NSIC Second Team selection in the 2021 season.
            Under Pollari in 2019-20, WSC was 16-13 and tied for sixth in the NSIC South Division with a 11-11 league mark. Junior forward Erin Norling was a repeat All-NSIC First Team selection for the Wildcats after ranking second in the NSIC in scoring (19.9 ppg). She also became the first Wildcat women's basketball player to earn CoSIDA Academic All-American honors (Second Team) with a 3.96 grade point average and was D2CCA All-Central Region Second Team honors.
            In his first season with the Wildcats, Pollari coached WSC to records of 15-15 overall and 9-13 in the NSIC.  Sophomore forward Erin Norling earned First Team All-NSIC honors during Pollari's first season, marking the sixth straight year and ninth in the last 10 seasons that a Wildcat women's basketball player received First Team All-NSIC recognition.
            Pollari brings over 15 years of collegiate coaching experience at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels to Wayne State College along with four years of high school experience. Prior to arriving 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 records 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 Montana, one year as assistant at Bozeman High School in Montana and one year at Bismarck St. Mary’s High School in North Dakota.
            Pollari obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Mary in 2001 (physical education teaching with history minor) and earned a master’s degree from Northern State in 2006 in physical education, health and coaching.