Nathan Frame jumped at the opportunity to coach SIU’s special teams
- Tom Weber
- Aug 14
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 15
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Not every coach is as passionate about coaching special teams as SIU’s Nathan Frame. It was one of his first areas of responsibility as a volunteer coach at Southern in 2017, fresh out of college.
Since Frame returned to Saluki Football in 2023 as the program’s full-time special teams coach, SIU has ranked among the nation's best in numerous special teams categories, ranking 14th in 2023 in kickoff return defense (16.76) and 17th in net punting in 2024 (39.95).
Frame will work with a dynamic talent this season in kicker/punter Paul Geelen, who is already on the Shrine Bowl preseason watch list.
Q&A with Nathan Frame
StrongDawgs: Talk about Paul and what a unique player he is, and the amount of things he can do for you. He can punt, kick off, place kick, he scored a touchdown last year.
NF: He’s very unique. He's one of the most athletic guys on our team, if not one of the fastest guys on our team. But his ability to kick and punt and be a true combo guy, it’s hard to explain the mental maturity you need to be able to do that, because all those kicks are different. If you hit a bad punt and your next rep’s a field goal, you have to be able to separate it and respond. Same thing if you hit a good punt, but miss a field goal, that field goal rep has nothing to do with the good punt you just had. Paul’s a mentally strong kid that stays even-keel, not too high, not too low. He’s always self-evaluating throughout a game.
SD: What are some of your special teams goals for this season?
NF: We want to create and capitalize on opportunities with turnovers and explosive returns. There wasn't a ton of game-changing plays on our end last year, outside of the fake (field goal) against Missouri State. On the flip side of it, we didn't allow a ton of game-changing opportunities, either. So we need to maintain that.
Our goals every year are to be in the top-four of the major categories in punt and kickoff. One of the areas we really want to take a jump is in our kickoff return game. It's such a game within a game there, where you’re showing your schemes with the iPads on that first rep. What do you want to show on tape? I have to do a better job with bringing our fastball for that game at the right time versus showing other looks. At the same time, you have to be concerned with your opponent’s fastball, and they've got that one shot they're bringing out.
I think your kickoff team embodies your whole team. That's your identity. When you put on tape of your kickoff team, you want that to be a representation of your whole entire team — a fast, physical, violent team that creates turnovers.
SD: How did you get into coaching?
NF: Toward the end of my senior year of college, I got the coaching bug. You play college football and then realize how much you enjoy just being around the game. Everybody in the profession says if you want to get into it, get into it young, because you're not going to be making very much money and who knows where you're going to be living. I wasn't married at the time. I was going to go to law school, and then I thought, I can always go back and go to law school.
I originally had the opportunity to go volunteer at KU (Kansas). One of my closest friends at Sterling College where I played, his mom knows Pat Poore, they’re from the same hometown. She said, I think Pat’s coaching at Minnesota. Then it was, no he's at Southern Illinois. So I reached out and the next thing you know, Pat emailed me back, calling me and then I'm on the way out here to check the place out. I ended up volunteering here for a year and then GA'd for the next two.
SD: What was your volunteer experience like?
NF: When you volunteer, number one, you just need to be seen, not heard. And so you're always showing up, willing to help in whatever capacity, and lot a lot of times, that's not even football-related. Most volunteers want to be the offensive coordinator's guy or the defensive coordinator's guy. I thought, well, then they don't have a lot of help for the special teams guy. So that’s kind of how I got my feet wet and showed these guys they can trust me. I was fortunate because they treated me as an equal and gave me responsibilities.
SD: Most coaches don’t jump at the chance to do special teams, but it seems you did.
NF: I think some guys might be hesitant, but I always thought, if that helps me get the job, then I’ll 100 percent do special teams. Then, you make it to your own. I enjoy the scheme part of it, the tweaks to your scheme and game planning. I like being responsible for that. When I got the Division II job up in North Dakota at Mary, they didn't have a special teams guy. I was like, oh, I’ll be the special teams guy. If I didn’t have those responsibilities at Mary, I probably don't get hired for the special team's job here.
At the Valley level, there’s a role for a special teams guy and then you just assist on one side of the ball, not truly coaching a position group. Here, it's the defensive side of the ball. So, yeah, it’s definitely the first full-time job I've had where all my attention can be on special teams for the most part.
SD: Who were the special teams coaches you worked with at SIU?
NF: It was (Austin) Flyger in ’17 and ’18, and Jared Petrino came in ’19. Coach Flyger and Coach Poore kind of split up the duties and Coach (Nate) Griffin had kickoff return. Coach Griff let me be a huge part of kickoff return and how we prepared for that. By 2019, I was a paid GA. Once they figured out that this guy's going to show up and work, they let me start doing special teams breakdowns. You find out just how valuable special teams experience is.
Coach Poore and his wife, Gwen, have been tremendous. When I came back here for the full time job, my wife and son stayed back for a couple weeks, and I stayed out at Pat's place that first month, just awesome people.
SD: Talk about the tremendous camaraderie among this coaching staff.
NF: We try not to take it for granted, but the atmosphere and the environment here makes you want to come to work every day. We enjoy being around each other. Whether it's talking football or not talking football, we socialize — our families are close friends. Other than Coach Hill, none of us are from this area, so this is our family up here. Coach Hill talks about building a staff environment, how critical that is. Not just hiring good coaches, but coaches who are going to mesh with each other, enjoy working together. The culture, the environment we create with the players and with the staff, that's one of the critical reasons why I came back here.
SD: Tell me about your growing family.
NF: I had a daughter on March 9. It's a little hot right now, but you'll see Monroe out at practice, I'm sure, soon. Our son, Asher just turned three, so it's been a whirlwind. But Monroe’s sleeping pretty well, so that's nice.
I met my wife, Erika, in college. We were both education majors. We were married in 2019, by my college coach, Coach Lambert. She moved up here to Carbondale in 2019 and got a teaching job. When we came back to SIU, she already had connections with the superintendent and principal. She's an elementary school teacher here at Lewis, and working with students where English is their second language. She loves it. She's been with me at every stop — to Louisiana, to North Dakota, back to here.
You can't do it without a wife that 100 percent supports you, because it's a selfish profession, where you have to pick up and move your family. You’re figuring it out as you go. During the summers, she's a full-time stay-at-home mom. So, yeah, she's a rock star.
SD: If you hadn't been a coach, what would you be doing right now?
NF: I’d have probably gone into law or farming. I was a hired hand on my grandpa and uncle's farm since like sixth grade, and then did that in the summers throughout college. I took the LSAT my senior year, did not crush it, but could have gotten into some law schools.
Practice 13 Insiders Notebook
