Rolandson starts final chapter in Byron as AD

A quarter century ago, northern Minnesota native Chad Rolandson received a call informing him about a teaching opening in a small town called Byron.
His first reaction was, “Where’s that?”
Now, Rolandson is opening what he hopes will be his final chapter as the Bears’ activities director.
From Minnesota to North Dakota
Rolandson went to college at Mayville State University. After coaching at the junior college and collegiate level for four years while in school, he thought his career would lead him to coaching a college team.
But he was advised by his college advisor to consider doing some high school coaching, in order to learn how to work with parents.
He ended up getting his first coaching and teaching job in 1992, in a town of about 800 people.
“You take your first job,” Rolandson said.
Working in a small town meant coaching seven sports in eight years.
“You got to coach it all,” he said.
Rolandson began his career at a time when teaching jobs were hard to come by, so while in college, he wanted to make sure he was “marketable,” so he wouldn’t lose out on a job or be laid off for lack of a certain degree.
While in college, he got a license for PreK-12 physical education/health education, along with adaptive physical education.
After he got to Byron, the district slowly grew its programming, eventually leading Rolandson to teach classes like CPR/ first aid, EMT classes, and sports management, which essentially helped students learn how to become officials.
His son Austin, a Byron High School graduate, is now a Minnesota State High School League football official.
During his time at Byron, Rolandson has coached many sports and helped to create the golf program, which he still coaches today.
But none of that would likely have been possible, if it wasn’t for the connections he made.
A Lesson for Kids, Adults
Rolandson said he always teaches his kids, “You never know who you are talking to, it might be a future employer for you, so you make sure you treat everyone with respect.”
The lesson dramatically changed his life.
Rolandson said while attending a sports clinic about 25 years ago, he met coaches from St. Charles. He jokingly asked one to let him know about any opportunities in Minnesota.
That’s the coach who told him about the opening in Byron.
Rolandson didn’t know about the town but decided to apply. In his mind, it would at least give him an excuse to visit with some friends who lived in the area.
He applied, interviewed, and was offered the job the next day.
Rolandson told his wife, Holly, about the opportunity, and they talked about it.
Byron was a little bit bigger than the 800-person town they were used to, and Rolandson wasn’t fond of the teaching and coaching schedule, but they’d just welcomed their first child. It felt like the right opportunity.
Holly Rolandson was able to land a job at Triton, where she worked until taking a special education teacher position in Byron about eight years ago.
Grass Green in Byron
A lot has changed since the Rolandson family moved to town.
“The town has almost tripled with us here,” he said.
But with only his wife and two dogs at home, and his three adult children out of the home, Rolandson decided it was the right time to go for the director position.
Last year, Brad Hak held both the primary/intermediate school assistant principal and activities director positions, due to budget constraints. This year, the position will be stand-alone again, working out of the high school.
“That’s probably a pretty good opportunity to move on to the next and last phase of my academic career,” Rolandson said.
The Byron position wasn’t the only one open in recent years; in fact, Triton was also looking for its next activities director this past spring.
But after 25 years, Rolandson knows where home is and opted against applying for any other jobs.
“The grass is fully green in Byron,” he said.