Fenske offers thoughts on the future of Saluki Football (Part Three)

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CARBONDALE, Ill. — In the final part of the Noah Fenske story, he explains why he came back for his seventh season of college football, the turnaround on the offensive line, his thoughts on head coach Nick Hill and the future of Saluki Football.

StrongDawgs conversation with Noah Fenske

SD: Initially, you weren't planning to come back for your seventh year. Explain what changed your mind.

NF: We just started out so well in 2024, went to BYU and just balled out against a bunch of NFL guys on that team. Then, just with all the injuries last year, I got hurt and I didn't feel like I was the best version of myself.  As an O-line, we gave up 33 sacks. Leaving this program like that just didn't sit right with me. Like I talked about earlier, this place deserves better than that.

SD: Talk about the remarkable turnaround of the O-line in 2025.

NF: The buy-in was incredible, and it was every day. We didn't have one bad workout as a group. I think what I'm the most proud of this season is we were the highest-graded offensive line in the Missouri Valley, which basically states that you're the best O-line in the FCS. I think our attitude was like that southern Illinois attitude. You're gonna kick me when I’m down. I'm gonna get back up. It doesn't matter. We take so much pride in this program, I wanted the community to see that.

SD: What are your thoughts on the foundation you helped lay for the program?

NF: We’re probably one more year away. I believed that we were there this year, but the ball stumbles weird ways. At North Dakota State, I still think in one half, there hasn't been a team that's played them better than we did. Beating Illinois State, losing to South Dakota in that heartbreaker. I can be proud of that, and I can move on from this program knowing that this place is in a better spot than when I first got here.

I know that that room with Jacob (Katauskas) and Blaine (Halley) and (Aidan) Duerig and Jimmy (Lansing), all of those guys that are coming back, I keep saying this, I think they're going to be better than this year. That's the standard I wanted to build between Coach (Dan) Clark and myself. We had a vision of where we wanted to go. While we didn’t make it to Nashville, we took a leap of faith and said, “we want to be the best O-line in the country.”

SD: What are your thoughts on pursuing an NFL career?

NF: Like I told my dad, I just wanted to go to Wartburg in 8th grade, and so for me, the NFL didn't really become a goal until I got that Division I scholarship, and then it became more of an exterior goal.

Whether or not I pursue the NFL, I've gotten that professional experience of football just from being in this locker room. We treat this program like it's a pro-level program. I've prepared like a pro and been with my brothers. You've got a brotherhood and a love for each other.

I think this program does an absolutely wonderful job compared to everywhere else I've been. We're friends with the DBs (defensive backs). At most schools, I don't even know the DB's names. I just think that that says so much about this program. I think that's the secret sauce — that commitment to each other. Branson (Combs) didn't go to Wake Forest's homecoming this year — he came to ours. Jeremy (Chinn) coming back. That guy makes a lot of money. It means something that he keeps coming back to Carbondale, because this is not a wealthy area by any means, but an NFL vet is saying, “hey, this place is special.”

SD: Regardless of whether you continue playing, it sounds like you’re committed to staying in the area with your training business?

NF: I want to be a part of this community and help build it into what it should be. I took a public health class. I'm not a public health major, but I got to do fire and police with a former SIU player and EMS. You see their commitment to this community, and there is such a call for this area to be better, and I see it every single day.

SD: How important has Coach Hill’s mentorship been in your life?

NF: Everything we talked about falls back on him. He says it all the time — better men make better Salukis.

He pours so much not only into this program, but into his family, and being a good example of what being a man is. What being a man is, is lost so much in today's culture. It isn't just some macho guy yelling at the top of his lungs. One of the coolest experiences I ever had as a player was when he took us all out to the lake last summer, and hearing everyone's story, and feeling the tears and the pain that other people were going through. It's a very open door here. If we have a problem, we can go talk to him, and like a good man, he'll listen and he'll instruct and he'll move, but he'll also care.

So much of what I've learned is, how to keep perspective in any situation. How do you show up when things aren't going well for you and be willing to not only point the finger, but know that I've got four fingers pointing back at myself? I've been in programs where you lose games and you watch the film in a team meeting room and guys get blamed left and right for why we lost. That's not Coach Hill. Coach Hill is the first person to admit when he's wrong. It's easy to play for a guy who you know has your back.

Coach Hill's my boss and everybody doesn't like their boss at times. But he's a boss who’s just a foxhole guy with us, and he's creating so many better men. I think that's incredible.

I'm sure right now it's gotta be hard just not knowing the future, but he's handled it with pure class. I think if you want a man that's going to lead this program where it needs to go, you're not going to find another person who embodies this area like Coach Hill does. If you want somebody to win at SIU, they have to understand what Southern Illinois is all about.

SD: What do you think the future holds for Saluki Football?

NF: I promise you that in the next few years, SIU will be standing on the stage in Nashville. It’s two or three years down the road, but I believe it's gonna happen here.

So I'm going to make a call to the AD and tell him we need to keep investing in what we have now, we need a better collective if we want to go and compete for national titles. It’s also a call to the fans and the boosters that, if you want that product, we're gonna have to step it up. This place is special, and it's gonna be on top soon. It's three hours from Nashville, and I know that there will be a sea of maroon when we get there.