Where Are They Now: Jakob Gollon
8/18/2020 1:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Gollon dedicated his life to basketball and helped Mercer beat Duke in 2014 but has since taken a step back from the game.
MACON, Ga. – At just 18 years old, Jakob Gollon packed up and left his parents' Wisconsin home. It wasn't simply an overnight trip, but a 1,000-mile trek to the unknown. The unknown was Macon, Ga.; home of Mercer University.
Gollon embarked on a journey to play college basketball. Unbeknownst to him, his time in the Black & Orange would last six years.
In the classroom, Gollon earned both his undergraduate and master's degrees in that timeframe, but it was a rocky start after initially choosing to major in English.
"My first class in the summer of 2008, I had an English class with Dr. Gary Richardson, the Dean of the English department," said Gollon. "I thought it would be a great chance for me to get on the path I want to be on. He graded on a curve and failed for comma splices, fragments etc. I decided not long after that class to not be an English major."
As he began to look for other options, Gollon settled on communications.
"If you can't articulate yourself, you won't have the ability to express yourself," he said. "I love speaking and communicating, which led me to be communications major. It focused on a worldly view of communication rather than something more rigid like English. It [communications] fit me well. The professors I had were tremendous. As far as academic rigor, it is not the same as certain fields. I wanted something I was passionate about."
While he completed his coursework, Gollon also excelled on the court. As a junior, he was named to the Atlantic Sun Preseason All-Conference team and also earned Capital One Academic All-District IV first team honors in addition to ASUN Academic All-Conference accolades. He was one of five Division I players named to the inaugural Allstate NABC Good Works team.
As a senior, Gollon was honored as the ASUN Men's Basketball Scholar Athlete of the Year. He was also a finalist for the Senior CLASS award, one of 30 players to earn a chance at the prestigious award. On the court, he scored a career-high 37 points in a 118-107 win at Valparaiso. In Mercer's 83-46 blowout of in-state opponent Kennesaw State, Gollon scored his 1,000th career point.
Many fans might expect Gollon's favorite memory of his time in the Black & Orange to be the 78-71 triumph over No. 3 seed Duke in the NCAA Tournament, but the memory he is most fond of took place one game before that. The background behind the event played a huge role in why it is the memory that comes to mind most when Gollon talks about his playing days.
"We had been itching to get into the [NCAA] tournament, knocking on the door and scratching the surface for some time. I was in my sixth year. At 18, I left Wisconsin and traveled 1,000 miles to try to accomplish one thing – making an NCAA tournament. After six years and losing to FGCU in the semifinals (2012) and finals (2013) on our home court, watching those guys make their Sweet 16 run was hard."
Getting to the NCAA tournament and overcoming that haunted the team in previous seasons challenge wasn't easy. Gollon and the Bears watched what could have been home court advantage in the league tournament fade away. Instead of playing the championship inside the friendly confines of Hawkins Arena, the Bears had to make the 500-mile drive to Fort Myers and play in a hostile environment at FGCU.
After beating USC Upstate in double overtime on Friday (March 6, 2014), the Bears had until Sunday to think about what might happen in the championship game. For Gollon, who admits he had an anxious mind, the time between games was not necessarily the best thing, but he learned to control it and rest in the fact that the team was prepared.
"That time seemed to last forever. We're rehashing old games and seeing ways we can beat them but also ways they have an advantage over us. By 2014, everyone had a phone and social media. If you participate in that, you basically get to hear everyone's input. Those two days, you get everything from fear and excitement to adrenaline and anxiety, judgment, worry and even confidence. There's an emotional balance you have to go through when you're in a position like that. Langston Hall was good at that balance. Good leadership will suppress those negative emotions and let preparation take you forward."
In front of a capacity crowd, Gollon and the Bears jumped on FGCU early – in what could be described as an abnormal game. Moments prior to the start of the winner-take-all championship, a fuse blew in the gymnasium and players, coaches and fans alike were forced to wait another 15 minutes until tipoff.
When the game began, Mercer had established a commanding 18-point lead at the half, but the second half was a different story. Despite the Eagles pulling within three with 2:29 to go, Gollon, who scored 12 points, pulled down six rebounds and handed out three assists, and his teammates withstood the charge to earn the program's first NCAA Tournament bid since 1985.
After experiencing several highs and lows alike, including the lows of being defeated by FCGU in the conference tournament for two consecutive seasons, to finally achieve his dream of making "The Big Dance" was a joyous moment.Â
"After several failed attempts, to finally make it [to the NCAA Tournament in 2014], I had a rush of adrenaline that I hadn't felt before," he said.
The Bears were the talk of the tournament in 2014 after knocking off the Duke Blue Devils, 78-71, in the Round of 64. Mercer's time in the tournament would come to an end with a loss to the Tennessee Volunteers in the Round of 32, but according to Gollon, his playing days "ended on a high note."
Following the completion of his final season, Gollon briefly considered a professional career overseas, even going so far as to hire an agent and review contracts. Eventually, he decided to not pursue professional basketball and traded in his basketball shoes and uniform for a whistle and clipboard to begin his coaching career.
"A lot of coaches get a graduate assistant role and get a masters, but I had my masters already and wanted to get a jump on a real coaching gig. I had few options. I was offered a head coaching job at a community college in Billings, Montana. Getting a head coaching job at 24 years old would have been a tremendous thing. There was one thing [of the other options] that kept coming back to me. I've always been a 'trust your instincts' type of person. My younger brother James is six years younger than me. I only came back to Wisconsin about two weeks out of the year for six years. I felt like I'd left him and my sister behind, although my sister got a full scholarship to play volleyball at Mercer when I was there."
Trusting his gut took him to Wisconsin. Once home, Gollon connected with the head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, an NCAA Division III school. Gollon told the head coach he'd work for whatever he could pay, he'd pour his heart into it, but on nights when the Pointers didn't have a game, Gollon wanted to go "recruit" his brother, James.
"I was able to wake up early and workout with my brother. It was a special time for me. Morning until night I was working on UWSP basketball or training my brother. He went on to lead the state in scoring. He got a scholarship to Ohio University in the MAC. He is applying for medical school this fall. We won a national championship. It was an emotional decision. I didn't get paid much at all, but it paid off."
After a brief coaching stint at USC-Aiken, Gollon took a long, hard look at his current career trajectory and decided to make a change. Despite having no formal business training, it is safe to say that he has left his mark in both the business and entrepreneurial world with numerous successful undertakings.Â
Gollon started "Master Your Craft" with combined his knowledge of athletics and business to help former student-athletes begin to find their niche in the business world.
"I was able to help athletes who didn't realize all the things they'd learned through their sport," Gollon said. "You're single-minded when you focus on sport and as an athlete you have experiences that are marketable. I was helping people get recruited."
Gollon has also remodeled a house and has started a blog. Additionally, he has future projects that he plans to take on.
"I was engaging in blogging, writing, podcasting, speaking and teaching as an adjunct professor while doing workshops and seminars for leadership and business development things. I'm studying to getting a contractor's license. I like industrial repurposing and creative real estate."
Right now, Gollon has immersed himself in helping those in the North Carolina area, where he now lives, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The crisis unfolded with the virus, and I happened to be in a position where I didn't have to answer to a boss [except my wife]," he said with a chuckle. "I had the flexibility to get involved. Nothing you achieve in your life is self-driven. There's always someone who helped you. I believe in reaching down the ladder and helping someone back up. I knew a lot of people here in the local food industry. I started to see this unfold and knew it would hurt so many people in a lot of essential industries – healthcare, housing, construction and food."
The sheer number of people in the food industry who would be affected – from advertisers and promoters to managers and wait staff – was a factor behind Gollon's involvement.
To explain what he's doing, Gollon utilized the example of a farmer. Farmer Joe might spend his Saturday morning at a farmer's market and have 100 people come through his section and make their purchases in the four-hour window he's at the market. The rest of the week, Farmer Joe is busy preparing, harvesting and doing daily tasks.
With the pandemic, however, Farmer Joe can't meet those 100 customers in a large group setting. Because of shelter in place orders, quarantines and other ordinances, it makes it difficult for the community to support Farmer Joe and other local food markets. At the same time, Farmer Joe doesn't have time to facilitate 100 individual orders and delivers.
Enter Gollon.
At first, he was supporting the local food industry via his own initiative. He took orders, placed them on his personal card, sanitized his vehicle and made deliveries each day. He gave nearly $500 worth of revenue to local businesses, and Carrboro United caught word of his work.
"The folks [at Carrboro United] who were coming up the with the initiative asked if I would consider helping and coordinating a whole branch of neighbor to neighbor deliveries," Gollon stated. "I'm implementing it for the initiative and other communities. I'm building the protocol that a coordinator in each neighborhood could use. It's probably the safest way of doing it. People trust their neighbors."
For now, Gollon is helping those affected by COVID-19. The future? Well, it holds a variety of things. You can keep up with him on Twitter or by visiting his blog.
How to Follow the Bears:Â
For complete coverage of Mercer Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMBB (Twitter), /MercerBasketball (Facebook) and @Mercer_MBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.
Gollon embarked on a journey to play college basketball. Unbeknownst to him, his time in the Black & Orange would last six years.
In the classroom, Gollon earned both his undergraduate and master's degrees in that timeframe, but it was a rocky start after initially choosing to major in English.
"My first class in the summer of 2008, I had an English class with Dr. Gary Richardson, the Dean of the English department," said Gollon. "I thought it would be a great chance for me to get on the path I want to be on. He graded on a curve and failed for comma splices, fragments etc. I decided not long after that class to not be an English major."
As he began to look for other options, Gollon settled on communications.
"If you can't articulate yourself, you won't have the ability to express yourself," he said. "I love speaking and communicating, which led me to be communications major. It focused on a worldly view of communication rather than something more rigid like English. It [communications] fit me well. The professors I had were tremendous. As far as academic rigor, it is not the same as certain fields. I wanted something I was passionate about."
While he completed his coursework, Gollon also excelled on the court. As a junior, he was named to the Atlantic Sun Preseason All-Conference team and also earned Capital One Academic All-District IV first team honors in addition to ASUN Academic All-Conference accolades. He was one of five Division I players named to the inaugural Allstate NABC Good Works team.
As a senior, Gollon was honored as the ASUN Men's Basketball Scholar Athlete of the Year. He was also a finalist for the Senior CLASS award, one of 30 players to earn a chance at the prestigious award. On the court, he scored a career-high 37 points in a 118-107 win at Valparaiso. In Mercer's 83-46 blowout of in-state opponent Kennesaw State, Gollon scored his 1,000th career point.
Many fans might expect Gollon's favorite memory of his time in the Black & Orange to be the 78-71 triumph over No. 3 seed Duke in the NCAA Tournament, but the memory he is most fond of took place one game before that. The background behind the event played a huge role in why it is the memory that comes to mind most when Gollon talks about his playing days.
"We had been itching to get into the [NCAA] tournament, knocking on the door and scratching the surface for some time. I was in my sixth year. At 18, I left Wisconsin and traveled 1,000 miles to try to accomplish one thing – making an NCAA tournament. After six years and losing to FGCU in the semifinals (2012) and finals (2013) on our home court, watching those guys make their Sweet 16 run was hard."
Getting to the NCAA tournament and overcoming that haunted the team in previous seasons challenge wasn't easy. Gollon and the Bears watched what could have been home court advantage in the league tournament fade away. Instead of playing the championship inside the friendly confines of Hawkins Arena, the Bears had to make the 500-mile drive to Fort Myers and play in a hostile environment at FGCU.
After beating USC Upstate in double overtime on Friday (March 6, 2014), the Bears had until Sunday to think about what might happen in the championship game. For Gollon, who admits he had an anxious mind, the time between games was not necessarily the best thing, but he learned to control it and rest in the fact that the team was prepared.
"That time seemed to last forever. We're rehashing old games and seeing ways we can beat them but also ways they have an advantage over us. By 2014, everyone had a phone and social media. If you participate in that, you basically get to hear everyone's input. Those two days, you get everything from fear and excitement to adrenaline and anxiety, judgment, worry and even confidence. There's an emotional balance you have to go through when you're in a position like that. Langston Hall was good at that balance. Good leadership will suppress those negative emotions and let preparation take you forward."
In front of a capacity crowd, Gollon and the Bears jumped on FGCU early – in what could be described as an abnormal game. Moments prior to the start of the winner-take-all championship, a fuse blew in the gymnasium and players, coaches and fans alike were forced to wait another 15 minutes until tipoff.
When the game began, Mercer had established a commanding 18-point lead at the half, but the second half was a different story. Despite the Eagles pulling within three with 2:29 to go, Gollon, who scored 12 points, pulled down six rebounds and handed out three assists, and his teammates withstood the charge to earn the program's first NCAA Tournament bid since 1985.
After experiencing several highs and lows alike, including the lows of being defeated by FCGU in the conference tournament for two consecutive seasons, to finally achieve his dream of making "The Big Dance" was a joyous moment.Â
"After several failed attempts, to finally make it [to the NCAA Tournament in 2014], I had a rush of adrenaline that I hadn't felt before," he said.
The Bears were the talk of the tournament in 2014 after knocking off the Duke Blue Devils, 78-71, in the Round of 64. Mercer's time in the tournament would come to an end with a loss to the Tennessee Volunteers in the Round of 32, but according to Gollon, his playing days "ended on a high note."
Following the completion of his final season, Gollon briefly considered a professional career overseas, even going so far as to hire an agent and review contracts. Eventually, he decided to not pursue professional basketball and traded in his basketball shoes and uniform for a whistle and clipboard to begin his coaching career.
"A lot of coaches get a graduate assistant role and get a masters, but I had my masters already and wanted to get a jump on a real coaching gig. I had few options. I was offered a head coaching job at a community college in Billings, Montana. Getting a head coaching job at 24 years old would have been a tremendous thing. There was one thing [of the other options] that kept coming back to me. I've always been a 'trust your instincts' type of person. My younger brother James is six years younger than me. I only came back to Wisconsin about two weeks out of the year for six years. I felt like I'd left him and my sister behind, although my sister got a full scholarship to play volleyball at Mercer when I was there."
Trusting his gut took him to Wisconsin. Once home, Gollon connected with the head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, an NCAA Division III school. Gollon told the head coach he'd work for whatever he could pay, he'd pour his heart into it, but on nights when the Pointers didn't have a game, Gollon wanted to go "recruit" his brother, James.
"I was able to wake up early and workout with my brother. It was a special time for me. Morning until night I was working on UWSP basketball or training my brother. He went on to lead the state in scoring. He got a scholarship to Ohio University in the MAC. He is applying for medical school this fall. We won a national championship. It was an emotional decision. I didn't get paid much at all, but it paid off."
After a brief coaching stint at USC-Aiken, Gollon took a long, hard look at his current career trajectory and decided to make a change. Despite having no formal business training, it is safe to say that he has left his mark in both the business and entrepreneurial world with numerous successful undertakings.Â
Gollon started "Master Your Craft" with combined his knowledge of athletics and business to help former student-athletes begin to find their niche in the business world.
"I was able to help athletes who didn't realize all the things they'd learned through their sport," Gollon said. "You're single-minded when you focus on sport and as an athlete you have experiences that are marketable. I was helping people get recruited."
Gollon has also remodeled a house and has started a blog. Additionally, he has future projects that he plans to take on.
"I was engaging in blogging, writing, podcasting, speaking and teaching as an adjunct professor while doing workshops and seminars for leadership and business development things. I'm studying to getting a contractor's license. I like industrial repurposing and creative real estate."
Right now, Gollon has immersed himself in helping those in the North Carolina area, where he now lives, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The crisis unfolded with the virus, and I happened to be in a position where I didn't have to answer to a boss [except my wife]," he said with a chuckle. "I had the flexibility to get involved. Nothing you achieve in your life is self-driven. There's always someone who helped you. I believe in reaching down the ladder and helping someone back up. I knew a lot of people here in the local food industry. I started to see this unfold and knew it would hurt so many people in a lot of essential industries – healthcare, housing, construction and food."
The sheer number of people in the food industry who would be affected – from advertisers and promoters to managers and wait staff – was a factor behind Gollon's involvement.
To explain what he's doing, Gollon utilized the example of a farmer. Farmer Joe might spend his Saturday morning at a farmer's market and have 100 people come through his section and make their purchases in the four-hour window he's at the market. The rest of the week, Farmer Joe is busy preparing, harvesting and doing daily tasks.
With the pandemic, however, Farmer Joe can't meet those 100 customers in a large group setting. Because of shelter in place orders, quarantines and other ordinances, it makes it difficult for the community to support Farmer Joe and other local food markets. At the same time, Farmer Joe doesn't have time to facilitate 100 individual orders and delivers.
Enter Gollon.
At first, he was supporting the local food industry via his own initiative. He took orders, placed them on his personal card, sanitized his vehicle and made deliveries each day. He gave nearly $500 worth of revenue to local businesses, and Carrboro United caught word of his work.
"The folks [at Carrboro United] who were coming up the with the initiative asked if I would consider helping and coordinating a whole branch of neighbor to neighbor deliveries," Gollon stated. "I'm implementing it for the initiative and other communities. I'm building the protocol that a coordinator in each neighborhood could use. It's probably the safest way of doing it. People trust their neighbors."
For now, Gollon is helping those affected by COVID-19. The future? Well, it holds a variety of things. You can keep up with him on Twitter or by visiting his blog.
How to Follow the Bears:Â
For complete coverage of Mercer Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMBB (Twitter), /MercerBasketball (Facebook) and @Mercer_MBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.
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