The Zeitgeist List · coaching

William Tate

Followed Billy Hildebrand. William Tate held Wake Forest at Regional Program IV for 5 seasons.

17–32
1964–1968 · 1 stint
Wake Forest
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Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerWAKE FORESTRegional Programthe building-block levelWake Forest, 1964: 5-5, Regional Program IV1964Wake Forest, 1965: 3-7, Regional Program V1965Wake Forest, 1966: 3-7, Regional Program V1966Wake Forest, 1967: 4-6, Regional Program IV1967Wake Forest, 1968: 2-7, Regional Program IV1968+1.1One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).

Wake Forest, 5 seasons
+1.1
Regional Program IV → Regional Program IV.

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

Winless in 5 tries against Frank Howard.

One-score games
7–11–1
36.8% · margin ≤8
The toughest matchup
vs. Frank Howard0–4–1
5 meetings, 1964–1968
’64 L’65 L’66 L’67 L’68 T
0% win rate across a real, 5-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.
Performance by opponent class
Power Program
1–5 16.7%
National Program
8–19 29.6%
Regional Program
8–8 50.0%

Coaching career

1964–1968
Wake Forestcaretaker
Regional Program IV → Regional Program IV
William Tate held Wake Forest at Regional Program IV for 5 seasons.

14th-best Wake Forest tenure of 16 by the numbers.

Followed Billy Hildebrand (1960–1963) · succeeded by Cal Stoll (1969–1971).

3 NFL Draft picks: Bob Grant (1968), Ken Henry (1968), Fred Summers (1969)

17–32