The Daily Iowan: You grew up in Texas, so what led you to the University of Iowa?

Drew Tate: [My dad] knew [then-Iowa running backs coach] Carl Jackson who was already on staff. I was committed to Texas A&M at the time, and so he had called my dad, and he had heard that the head coach at A&M might be on the chopping block. That’s how it got started.

What was a typical practice like with Coach Ferentz?

He could be very intense, but he had a good eye. You know, I think looking at things and seeing just all kinds of things, right? Players, coaches, staff, effort, the details on little stuff like that.

What are some of your favorite off the field memories of him?

We used to go to his house for barbecues and stuff like that. His son, Brian, was my center for a year, and we ran around together a lot.

It’s been 20 years since the iconic “Tate to Holloway” play. What do you remember from that play?

When I first threw it, I thought I overthrew him, and then I’m sitting there, I’m looking at the ball, I’m looking at him, and then I can just see the corner outside of him that was covering ankle was folding in. So I thought he was going to come up, drop up and pick it or knock it down, but [Ed] Hinkle was able to hold him off. Warren [Holloway] catches it, you know, goes through the arm, a little kind of swipe by the dude, and then that was it.

Coach Ferentz is two wins away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in Big Ten history. You were one of the guys that built the foundation for his success at Iowa. What does that mean to you?

It’s awesome to be a part of that. I just think about how he and the program have changed so many lives and the way that they’ve changed them. It’s a special place. And not only is it really about, well, it is about that. I mean, like I said, being a special place you’ve only had two head coaches in 50 years.