New Rutgers University President William Tate IV says he has a long-standing philosophy on second-place trophies: You put them in your pocket, go home and work on being first.
During his opening speech and media conference as the new leader of Rutgers — a position he will formally assume on July 1 — Tate made it clear that a passion for sports and a passion for winning comes with him.
Tate also said the new era of colleges athletics gives Rutgers an opportunity to compete in ways it never has before, calling it a new era and new playing field.
“Everybody says they want to go back to the old days — you know where they’re going to be?” he asked and then answered. “Last place.”
Tate said he is ready for Rutgers to find its place in the new world.
His dreams of success were welcomed warmly by Amy Towers, the chair of the Rutgers Board of Governors — and a strong proponent of the belief that sports can drive a university to new heights.
“It’s not the most important piece of the puzzle, obviously that’s academics, but’s a very large piece of the puzzle,” she told BINJE.
The ability to put all those pieces together was a quality she and the search committee felt was a huge plus for Tate.
“We needed somebody who had an awareness of the importance of athletics at a large, public, Big Ten university — and certainly hiring the president of LSU in the SEC fits that need,” she said.
Towers feels Tate can help reshape the school’s athletic landscape.
“The reality is, Rutgers is in the Big Ten. And Big Ten athletics are very competitive,” she said. “We have underachieved our brand in athletics, underachieved the quality of our student athletes.”
Tate said it will be his job to line up the corporate support to help Rutgers land a top football team, but he said the fans have a job to do, too. And their job comes first.
Tate comes from LSU, traditionally one of the hardest places to play in college athletics. He said Rutgers needs to create that type of atmosphere here.
“If you want recruits to come here, the stadium environment has to be electric,” he said. “(Recruits) have to walk into a place and say, ‘I want to be here.’
“If you don’t do that, you’re working against yourself. So, if you want to be great, be great as a fan first, and then you’ll get the product. It works that way.”
Of course, it hasn’t always worked that way at Rutgers.
Tate stressed that Rutgers has to win the region for recruits — an idea Rutgers has been pitching with sporadic success for decades.
Tate, who gave an immediate vote of confidence to head football coach Greg Schiano, said he is eager to take the next step forward, confident he will be able to help raise the revenue needed for success.
“You’ve got to have a national footprint of where you going to,” he said.
Towers agreed, again pointing to his understanding of the new sports landscape.
“He already is familiar with NIL, he’s already familiar with the challenges hiring head coaches, hiring an athletic director and just managing this as a big part puzzle,” she said. “LSU has been able to join academic accomplishments with athletic accomplishments.”
Tate’s ability to hit the ground running stems from another advantage his time at LSU brings.
It’s not just that the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten Conference clearly are the premier leagues in the country, since they are — the groups already have been working together.
“The presidents of the Big Ten and the presidents of the SEC already have been meeting together,” she said. “So, Dr. Tate has been in the thick of all these athletic issues already.”
If there’s any concern that Tate is only playing the part, Towers invites people to do their own research — on YouTube.
“If you go online, you’ll see the speeches he gave to athletic teams and to student athletes,” he said. “This is not something he just does as part of the job. He has a passion for athletics, and he sees the value of the athletic experience as part of the student experience, and he also sees it as part of the success of the university overall.”
