Tate coaches Team USA at Five Nations

Norman Tate was an Olympian in 1968 competing in the triple jump for the United States.  When his running days were over, Tate took the skills he learned as an athlete and went into coaching.  He has coached at the high school and college levels and is currently an assistant coach of track and field at Rowan.

However much success he has found in track and field, Tate considered his highest honor to be when he coached U.S. Olympian Jack Pierce at the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain and the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia.  Those two Olympic Games, along with traveling with Pierce to the World Championships as well, were his best moments in coaching.  That was until Dec. 3, 2009.

Tate was driving to North Carolina when he got a call from John Moon, an old friend and head track coach at Seton Hall University.  Moon told Tate that he nominated him to coach Team USA at the Five Nations Meet in Glasgow, Scotland and that a group of people met in Indianapolis at the headquarters for USA Track and Field to select the coach.

Al Joyner and Carl Lewis, two heralded Olympic Gold medalists, were the two other candidates for the position.  Moon told Tate that the committee selected him, but Tate did not believe him.

“He started off the conversation by saying you owe me big time,”  Tate said. “He asked me if my passport was up to date and that I had been selected to coach Team USA in January.”

Later on that week, Tate received a call from the United States Track and Field Headquarters to confirm the selection.

“I could start telling people and celebrate so I came back to Rowan and told [men's track and field head coach Bill] Fritz and [women's track and field head coach Derick "Ringo" Adamson],” Tate said.  “I was excited after John told me but when I was officially notified I was really excited.”

Tate considered himself as an outsider and was surprised that he was selected.

“I have won the NCAA’s and represented my country in the Olympics,” Tate said. “Now I have had success at every level and it is a great honor.”

The athletes that represented the United States in the Five Nations Meet included Olympic and World Champion athletes Lori “Lolo” Jones, Sean Crawford, and David Oliver.  Jones was an 11-time All-American at LSU and won indoor nationals in 2007, 2008 and 2009 in the 60-meter hurdles.  She was on her way to win Gold in the 100 meter hurdles in the 2008 Beijing Olympics until she hit the last hurdle and finished in seventh place. Being responsible for this kind of talent could seem daunting to some coaches, but not Tate.

“I was not fazed by the talent that was there because I had been to the Olympics as a competitor and had coached Pierce at the Olympics,” Tate said.

Being familiar with world-class talent helped Tate lead his team and country to impressive performances where Team USA finished in second place, just two points behind champion Great Britain.