Fairfield Mules Football is returning to the airwaves this fall as WFIW-FM 104.9 once again becomes the home of Friday night football for the 2026 season.
Listeners can tune in each week for live play-by-play coverage, color commentary, and postgame interviews with coaches. In addition to radio broadcasts, all Fairfield Mules home games will be video streamed live at wfiwradio.com, featuring high-resolution graphics, an on-screen scoreboard, and instant video replays.
WFIW News and Information Director, Mark Wells will handle play-by-play duties, while longtime coach Marty Slover joins the broadcast team as color commentator.
Slover enters his 42nd year in coaching, a career that began at Sims Grade School in 1985 and now includes 12 years at Frontier Community College. He currently serves as assistant softball coach for the Frontier Bobcats after previously leading the program as head coach. Since helping establish the Bobcat softball program along with now head coach, Jeremy Ellis in 2015, Slover guided the team to NJCAA postseason play every season and earned the first victory in program history with a 5-2 win over nationally ranked Wabash Valley College in 2016.
A two-time Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year, Slover has coached 67 NJCAA Academic All-Americans and numerous all-conference athletes. On the grade school level, his teams have won seven SIJHSAA regional championships and four Junior NEC Conference titles in baseball, basketball, and softball, while compiling more than 864 career victories.
1996 Elite 8
SIJHSAA Class L Baseball
*2004 3rd place
SIJHSAA Class M Basketball
*2005 STATE CHAMPIONS
SIJHSAA Class M basketball
*2007 4th place
SIJHSAA Class M Baseball
Elite 8
SIJHSAA Class M Softball
His coaching accomplishments include a 2005 SIJHSAA Class M State Basketball Championship, multiple state tournament appearances in baseball and softball, and serving as an assistant coach for the Fairfield Lady Mules softball team that reached the IHSA Elite Eight.
Before entering education and coaching, Slover spent five years as a bird dog scout for the Texas Rangers under legendary scout Jerome “Mimi” Alongi. He is also an honorary member of the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum.
A lifelong Wayne County resident, Slover is a graduate of Frontier Community College and Eastern Illinois University. He and his wife, Kelly, are active members of New Beginnings Church in Fairfield and help lead along with Ed and Lucy Potts a weekly Bible study for Frontier Community College athletes. Together they have five children and five grandchildren.
The Fairfield Mules open the season Friday, August 21st on the road at Edwards County.