Get to know Branford HS alum, St. Joseph University basketball player Jake Sullivan
BRANFORD, Conn. — Jake Sullivan, a Branford High School basketball team alumni, never thought he would be playing for legendary Coach Jim Calhoun, but that’s exactly what happened. When Jake was in his postgraduate year at The Choate School in Wallingford, Coach Calhoun was in his first year coaching men’s basketball at St Joseph University in West Hartford and looking for just the right players to build a solid foundation for the team. “After watching Jake play four or five times at Choate, I saw something in him. He was already a quiet but strong leader. I knew he would be an asset to the team.” Coach Calhoun tells me. Jake, always in awe of Coach Calhoun and his accomplishments, immediately said yes when asked to join the team. Jake couldn’t help but feel honored when Coach told him the attributes that made him stand out as someone who could help the team — a very good, consistent player who was reliable and a hard worker who would make a great teammate.
Jake feels doing a post-graduate year at Choate allowed him to develop the skills he needed to be able to play in college and to be an important member of the team. A starting forward all four years at St. Joseph, he has returned this year for a fifth year due to COVID extended eligibility. With an undergraduate degree in accounting, Jake will be in the university’s Master’s degree program working toward his MBA. He is happy to do the extra year as Jake has always known since his senior year in high school how hard it would be to put the basketball down.
“I see Jake as our glue man,” Coach Calhoun adds. “There is no question he is an incredible team leader and has evolved into a mentor for our younger players as well as holding our team together. Not only is he a very good player – he’s a very special player on the court as well as off the court.”
Speaking with Jake you just can hear the love he has for basketball, and you know he knows for the team to be successful, each member has to enjoy the game and be a team player. Jake first looks inward each year to set his own personal goals and then how the pursuit of those goals can contribute to the overall team’s success. “I know how important it is to listen to what the Coach has to offer as well as your other teammates. Listening and being open to their observations help to make me a better player. As captain I try to impress on the team how important hard work and being open is to the success of the team,” says Jake.
Jake is looking forward to his final year at St. Joseph’s coached by Glen Miller, one of Jim Calhoun’s former assistants. Four of the five starters will be returning and for the fifth year Jake is once again team captain. Putting out one’s best effort and the willingness to work and to motivate are all important to Jake. With Jake as captain, the last two seasons the Division 3 team has been 35-0, has ranked #1 both as the D3 defensive team in the country and in rebounding margin.
Perhaps Jake’s modesty is why he’s so successful in his academics as well as on the court and why Coach Calhoun continued to emphasize “Jake is a true leader in every sense, and the St. Joseph basketball team “glue man.”
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