Drew Tate

Tate started his professional football career as an undrafted free agent with the St. Louis Rams in 2007. He signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders later that year and spent two seasons with the Club. In 2009, Tate signed with the Calgary Stampeders and spent the next eight seasons there. He spent 2017 with the Ottawa REDBLACKS and then retired to join the coaching staff at Coastal Carolina. He returned to the CFL briefly with Saskatchewan in 2018 to close out his playing career.

In 147 CFL games, Tate completed 410-of-615 pass attempts for 5,008 yards, 35 touchdowns, 16 interceptions and added 162 carries for 629 yards and 24 touchdowns. He is a two-time Grey Cup Champion, winning in 2007 with the Roughriders and in 2014 with the Stampeders.

In 2019, Tate served as the Quarterbacks Coach with the B.C. Lions. Tate coached the wide receivers in The Spring League (TSL) in 2020. He went on to coach tight ends in the FCF (Fan Controlled Football League) in the spring and then coached quarterbacks at University of Tennessee – Martin during the fall, including Keon Howard, who was the 2021 Player of the Year in the Ohio Valley Conference. In 2022, Tate was the Tight Ends Coach at the University of Northern Iowa.

Tate is originally from Baytown, Texas, and played for the University of Iowa. From 2004-06, Tate ranked as one of the nation’s top signal callers as a Hawkeye. He continues to rank high in the Iowa record book for nearly every passing stat.

As a sophomore in 2004, he led Iowa to a share of the Big Ten title, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors while passing for more than 2,700 yards and 20 touchdowns. Tate is third in career passing yards (8,292), TD passes (61), completions (665), attempts (1,090), and second in total offense (8,427). He also completed a 56-yard scoring strike on the last play of the game to lead Iowa to a win over LSU in the 2005 Capital One Bowl.

Tate’s father, Dick Olin, is a UNI alum who played quarterback for Stan Sheriff from 1963-1967.