BOONEVILLE, Miss. - The Northeast Mississippi Community College volleyball program continues to grow with the addition of its first-ever assistant coach.
Jake Hannon, who plays the sport at a high level himself, is joining the Lady Tigers' staff ahead of their third season of intercollegiate competition.
"I'm very excited to have him," said Northeast head coach Brenda Mayes. "He by far was the most qualified applicant because of his experience as an athlete himself. He has a big portfolio of knowledge with the different changes that's happening in the sport.
"We wanted some extra skill development. I tell the girls if you can pick up coach Jake, you can pick up most females. He wants the young ladies to be just as competitive as he is. He's very respectful himself and he's hard working."
This is the first position outside of the club level for Hannon in his budding instructional career. He has journeyed across the country over the last several years while playing professionally on the beach and grass circuit.
"I enjoy coaching and love the game of indoor volleyball," Hannon said. "You can't be successful in a sport like volleyball without heart and effort. You've got to be passionate to be at the highest level. If you don't love it, you're not going to make it very far."
Hannon and Mayes actually crossed paths for the first time at a travel ball event in Alabama. She observed his Level Elite Sports 15U team win their bracket championship and invited him to apply for the newly created job.
"One of my long time friends, I'd given her a call and asked if she knew of anybody," said Mayes. "She said, 'I've got one young man I want to introduce you to and you can go from there.' When I met him, I told him to think about it. The next week, I got a text that said he was going to fill out the application. I was excited about that."
Hannon's first love athletically was baseball. He was an all-region performer on the diamond at Lakeview (Ga.) Academy and earned an opportunity to play collegiately at Middle Georgia State College.
He originally discovered volleyball after becoming friends with members of the program at Middle Georgia State. Hannon's baseball career got cut short due to injury, but a blossoming future in this new sport started to take shape soon after.
"Whenever I moved back home, we had a recreational park out there with some sand courts," said Hannon. "I went out there and played. I realized that I had a little bit of a knack for the sport. I played about 12 hours a day every day that first year."
The Buford, Ga., native will soon begin his fifth year of competing in outdoor volleyball. He is currently affiliated with the Huntsville Nova of the Volleyball League of America (VLA).
Hannon has represented the Atlanta Bobcats and the Bama Hammers in the VLA as well. He has racked up 28 tournament wins and eight open level victories along with 20 top five placements.
He has been to professional events with Team SPKD. Hannon also boasts multiple Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) national placements and is a USA Volleyball (USAV) adult nationals open gold medalist.
His Level Elite Sports squad captured four titles out of six tournaments last season. Hannon, who is married to Alexis, also coached for one year with the Atlanta Extreme club organization.