Jerome Tate graduated from Selma High School in 1977 where he excelled in football and played in the Alabama All-Star game in 1977. Tate graduated from Alabama A&M in 1982 and served one season as a graduate assistant at the school in 1983.

He landed his first high school coaching position at Keith High School as the head football coach for one season in 1982. His team finished with a 4-5 records.

In 1984, Tate served one season as the offensive line coach at Tuskegee Institute before working five seasons (1985-89) as offensive/defensive line coach and five years (1990-94) as the defensive coordinator at Lanett.

Tate accepted the head coaching position at Loachapoka in 1995 where he begins his twenty-first year entering the 2015 season. He also serves as the athletic director at Loachapoka.

The Indians made the playoffs for the 14th year in a row in 2016 and have qualified for the playoffs in eighteen seasons during his tenure at the school.

Coach Tates teams have won four region titles over the past 23 years. His 2004 team went undefeated in the regular season and finished with a 12-1 record.

The 2009 team finished 11-2 reaching the semi-finals of the state playoffs before losing. All but five of his teams have finished the season with a winning record.

He was named Opelika/Auburn News coach of the year in 1997 and 2005, Montgomery Advertiser 1A-2A coach of the year in 2005 and the Alabama Football Coaches Association 1A coach of the year in 2009.

Tate coached in the 1997 and 2010 North/South All-Star game and the 2005 Alabama/Mississippi All-Star football game. He was inducted into the Alabama A&M Sport Hall of Fame in 2006.