At Goshen College, we strive to create champions in competition, in the classroom and in the community. While many of the stories we tell on this website have to do with contests, we also know that our student-athletes will be members of society long after they hang up their uniform for the last time. Alumni Friday is a weekly series that will catch up with some Goshen College alumni to reflect on where their experience in the Maple City has taken them.

Jeremy Pope '11 was a business and sports management major and men's basketball player from Westerville, Ohio.

What have you been up to since graduating?
After graduating in 2011, I was worked for three years as an admissions counselor for Goshen College. During my third year as an admission counselor, I started a Sports Management Masters program through Lasell College. I then got married in June 2014 to Huntington University alum Dorina Oliveira.
In September of 2014 Dorina and I moved to Nashville for me to work an internship for my Masters program for Nashville Sports Leagues (an adult recreation league and social club). I then was hired as a director for Nashville Sports Leagues and worked for them for 2 years. Then worked for the YMCA running youth sports leagues in Franklin and Spring Hill, Tennessee.
In 2016 I started Next Level Skills Basketball Academy that trains Nashville Area basketball players and also provides college prep, recruiting assistance, scholarships, a professional mentoring program, and a career prep program. Next Level Skills now serves approximately 75 families. Next Level Skills is now my full time job.
In 2018 I accepted the head varsity basketball coaching job at Valor Collegiate Academy, a top 5 academic charter school in the state. In January of 2019 Dorina and I had our first daughter, Mia Pope. Then in June 2020 we had our second daughter, Amelia Pope.

What do you miss the most about Goshen?
I miss living with and being around my teammates and friends from college. We had a great time on campus just being around each other. 

What advice do you have for current student-athletes?
Take all of the lessons that you learn from college with you after school is over. You will learn in the classroom, in the dorms and apartments, from other people, in your sport, in the community and in other places. You will have good and bad times. But you can learn from everything you go through. Those same lessons will pop up again in your life. Always learn and apply prior lessons in your life. 
 
To participate in Alumni Friday, contact your program's head coach.