Tommy Tate has become one of the nation's top collegiate football coaches and along the way has captured just about every coaching award.

He is now beginning his seventh season as the McNeese head coach and has a 48-23 overall record and was the engineer of three straight Southland Conference championships.

Tate ranks as the sixth all-time winningest percentage coach in SLC history, behind the Cowboys' own Ernie Duplechin and Maxie Lambright of Louisiana Tech with a .676 winning percentage.

McNeese posted a 5-4 record in 2005 and two years ago Tate led the Cowboys to a 10-2 record and to their third straight SLC title.

During his head coaching career with the Cowboys, Tate has been named the Southland Conference coach of the year, the NCAA District V coach of the year by the American Football Coaches Association and the 1-AA national coach of the year (Eddie Robinson award) which he won in 2002 when he led the Cowboys to the 1-AA championship game.

The former Cowboy defensive back has spent all of his coaching career with McNeese State.

His start in the coaching ranks came immediately following his graduation from McNeese in 1979 as he became the team's secondary coach when Duplechin was named head coach. That year and the next the Cowboys played in the Independence Bowl, won two league titles and fashioned a 21-3-0 won-lost record.

Except for one year when he served the university as placement director, he has been a member of the Cowboy coaching staff. He will continue to serve as the team's defensive coordinator this season.

The 50 year old coach played high school ball at Pt. Barre (La.) where he was a football, track and basketball MVP. He went on to play four seasons for the Cowboys, all under the late Jack Doland, and was an all-SLC academic team selection. During his playing years with the Cowboys, the team went 29-15-1 and played in and won the 1976 Independence Bowl (over Tulsa).

As both a head coach and assistant coach at McNeese, Tate has seen the Cowboys win 196 games and nine conference titles, appear in two bowl games, in the 1-AA championhip game twice, in 11 1-AA playoffs and been nationally ranked 12 times in the final 1-AA poll.

Tate and his wife Pam are the parents of Jared, Brooke, Paige and Josh

Tate's bio

birthdate: February 26, 1956

college: McNeese State 1979 (bachelor degree in health and Physical Education); McNeese State 1981 (master degree in Health and Physical Education)

hometown: Washington, LA

high school: Pt. Barre High

Accomplishments

- 2001 team won the SLC title by winning its last five league games; also participated in 1-AA playoffs

- 2002 squad won the SLC title, ranked No. 1 in the nation and played in 1-AA championship game; he was named 1-AA coach of the year (Eddie Robinson award); also Louisiana coach of year and New Orleans Hall of Fame coach of year

- 2003 team won the SLC title, ranked No. 1 in nation 11 of 14 weeks and participated in 1-AA playoffs; he was named SLC coach of year and district coach of year by AFCA

- 2005 team was displaced by Hurricane Rita and had to spend five weeks on the campus of Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond...Cowboys went 5-4 and finished third in the SLC

- has recruited such McNeese standouts as Hall of Famer Buford Jordan, Keith Ortego, Kerry Joseph and Chris Fontenot

- has coached such players as NFL standout and McNeese Hall of Famer Leonard Smith, Bryan Hicks, Mike Pierce, Zack Bronson, Delphfrine Lee and Tarius Davis

- while coaching the defensive backs he helped 11 players (Bronson, Robert Davenport, Davis, Damon Gladney, Lance Guidry, Tim Harris, Tom Murphy, Pierce, Smith, Kip Texada, Clyde Wlliams) earn first team all-SLC honors

- Smith, Bronson and Pierce also earned all-America honors and Smith was a first round draft pick by the NFL

- Smith, Hicks and Ortego all went on to play in the Super Bowl

- since he became head coach McNeese has had 11 players - Jake Morrison, Wes Hines, Joe Judge, Hadley Prince, B. J. McNutt, Roderick Royal, Jason Davis, Dwight Hudler, B. J. Sams, Keith Smith, Vick King - earn all-American honors

- Prince in 2002 and Sams in 2003 were named SLC Players of the year

Tate as player - 1975-78 - at McNeese State

- four year letterman and played under the late Jack Doland who was head coach 1970-1978

- played in the inaugural Independence Bowl - 1976 - which the Cowboys won by a score of 20-16 over Tulsa

- during career made three pass interceptions and credited with 105 tackles as defensive back

- named to the Southland Conference all-Academic team as a senior in 1978

Tate as coach - 1979-present - at McNeese State

- became fulltime assistant as defensive backfield coach in 1979 under Ernie Duplechin

- team went undefeated in 1979, won the SLC title and played Syracuse in the Independence Bowl

- Cowboys also won the SLC title in 1980 and played against Southern Miss in Independence Bowl

- his 1980 defensive backfield intercepted a school record seven passes in victory over La-Monroe

- his 1983 secondary helped team to a school record 27 pass interceptions

- 1997 secondary led the nation in pass defense (second in 1993 and third in 1991) and advanced to finals of the 1-AA playoffs

- the 1985, 1988, 1993, 1997, 1998 Cowboys led the SLC in pass defense

- in 1999 he was promoted to defensive coordinator and assistant head coach

- in 2000 he was promoted to head coach and team produced an 8-4 record, played in 1-AA playoffs and he was a finalist for Eddie Robinson coaching award

Tate's Record as the Cowboy Head Coach

Year W L Pct. SLC Record Pct. NCAA

2005 5 4 .676 3rd 3-3 .500

2004 4 7 .363 5th 1-4 .200

2003 10 2 .833 1st 5-0 1.000 1-AA playoffs (first round)

2002 13 2 .967 1st 6-0 1.000 1-AA playoffs (championship game)

2001 8 4 .667 1st 5-1 .833 1-AA playoffs (first round)

2000 8 4 .667 2nd 5-2 .714 1-AA playoffs (first round)

Totals 48 23 .676 25-10 .714