GLASSBORO, NJ – Norm Tate is in his fourth year as an assistant coach for the Rowan University men’s and women’s track & field teams. However, he will temporarily leave the team this spring for a higher calling. Tate has been selected to coach the male jumpers for the United States at the 2012 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. The championships will be held March 9-11.
Tate has a long record of coaching experience. In 2010, he coached Team USA at the Five Nations Match in Glasgow, Scotland. He was the personal coach for Jack Pierce, who won the bronze medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Tate has also been an assistant coach at Manhattan College and a head coach at Hempstead High School in New York.
“With that exposure, it’s helped me be recognized on the national and international level as a coach,” said Tate. “That’s part of the process. The other part of the process is at the U.S. Track & Field convention held every year. Coaches’ names are put into a pot and the committee votes on the selections and that’s how I was chosen.”
Tate has remained involved with USA Track & Field throughout the years, another reason for his selection. His relationship with the organization began as an athlete, when he competed for the United States in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Tate finished 17th in the triple jump. That experience, Tate says, helps him to coach some of the best athletes in the world.
“As an athlete, I know what it takes,” said Tate. “The sacrifices you have to make and the commitment you have to make in order to be a successful athlete on the international level. It’s allowed me to be able to communicate with these athletes, because I’ve been there and had that exposure.”
Even with the tremendous honor of coaching at the World Championships, Tate has a bigger goal in mind.
“This is the equivalent, almost, of being selected as one of the Olympic coaches,” stated Tate. “They have already made the selections for this summer in London, but 2016 is the next one. If I’m still around in 2016, hopefully I’ll get lucky and be selected as one of the coaches for the Olympic team. That’s my ultimate goal.”
Tate joins a coaching staff that includes head coach Ed Gorman, sprints/hurdles coach Orin Richburg from New Mexico State University, distance coach Dave Shrock, alternate John Weaver from Appalachian State University, head manager Alan Kolling and event manager Dexter McCloud. Richburg was the head relay coach at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China and guided the United States to two gold medals in the men’s and women’s 4x400-meter relays.
