Completed Event: Track & Field at NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 11, 2025 , , M: T-35th/72 (8.5) || W: T-34th/68 (8)
/
Final
Track & Field
at NCAA Outdoor Championships
Photo by: Mike Christy, Arizona Athletics
Meet the Staff: Tatijana Jacobson
8/4/2021 10:30:00 AM | Track & Field
DURHAM, N.C. – As the 2021-22 cross country and track & field season approaches, several new faces have joined the Duke coaching staff. Throughout the rest of the summer, join us as we continue our introduction of the people behind the title.
Joining the Blue Devil program is new assistant coach (jumps) Tatijana Jacobson. Jacobson arrives in Durham after a successful season at Arizona as the jumps & multis coach. Jacobson has played a key role with several student-athletes, including guiding Arizona's Skylar Sieben to her first NCAA Outdoor Championship in the heptathlon.
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When did you first get involved in track & field?
Jacobson: "I'd say when I was in junior high. My dad, he did track & field for high school and a little bit in college, so he helped, and he was my coach growing up, so track & field was home."
When did you know you wanted to be a coach?
Jacobson: "I didn't know until I'd say senior year of college. I was kind of going through what every senior goes through of like 'what am I going to do when I graduate, oh gosh I have to figure this out'. My college was like; 'you're really interested in the sport, you've read a lot on your own and you should look into coaching', so that kind of stuck with me when he said that, and I just took it. His brother actually offered me a volunteer position at UNC, so that is where the coaching started."
What is your most proud or lasting moment as an athlete or coach?
Jacobson: "My proudest moment as an athlete would be hitting my PR. I jumped 1.83m, kind of out of the blue. I was not that good coming out of high school and I just wanted to be on a team and ended up jumping really well my junior and senior years of college. Then coaching, I had an athlete at Arizona who had a monster year in the heptathlon and she PR'd by almost 300 points. Just to see her buy into the program and really see that she could do what she wanted to do, to me that's always really cool, obviously when they figure that out. She became kind of unstoppable after that and she qualified for nationals."
What initially attracted you to Duke?
Jacobson: "Well obviously having worked in the area and worked in the conference before, Duke has, I don't know, this aura around them of really good students, but also really good athletes and good people. What Coach [Shawn] Wilbourn has done within his group for the last six years or so, but how he's taken over the program to is just really cool to see the transformation. I don't think you would notice it if you just looked from this year to last year but seeing kind of how he's made his mark within the athletic department here and with the team is really cool to see."
What is the first Duke experience you'd like to have?
Jacobson: "The Chapel actually. I went by it for the first time last week. As many meets as I have gone to here as a coach, I have not really been on campus, so that was really cool to see."
What is something people may not know about you?
Jacobson: "I'm a big quilter. I love to quilt. There's something about it, where it's really mathematical, which isn't my strong suit, but the fact that it's creative but also really math based is challenging for me and I've always been creative growing up, so quilting is a big hobby of mine actually."
What are your goals for the upcoming season?
Jacobson: "Obviously building on what last year was is huge. A lot of people leaving, new people coming in. I know that with the athletes I've worked with, there's one in particular that was really good in high school, so just helping him go past his marks in high school obviously. I think my biggest focus this year is going to be recruiting and what we can do differently. Obviously, they've done a really good job, they've got really good kids coming in, but that's kind of been what I've been known for the last few years, both at my time in Georgia and at Arizona, so whatever I can do to help get Duke to that next level as far as recruiting goes is kind of my big goal.
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To stay up to date with Blue Devils cross country, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeTFXC."
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#GoDuke
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Joining the Blue Devil program is new assistant coach (jumps) Tatijana Jacobson. Jacobson arrives in Durham after a successful season at Arizona as the jumps & multis coach. Jacobson has played a key role with several student-athletes, including guiding Arizona's Skylar Sieben to her first NCAA Outdoor Championship in the heptathlon.
Â
When did you first get involved in track & field?
Jacobson: "I'd say when I was in junior high. My dad, he did track & field for high school and a little bit in college, so he helped, and he was my coach growing up, so track & field was home."
When did you know you wanted to be a coach?
Jacobson: "I didn't know until I'd say senior year of college. I was kind of going through what every senior goes through of like 'what am I going to do when I graduate, oh gosh I have to figure this out'. My college was like; 'you're really interested in the sport, you've read a lot on your own and you should look into coaching', so that kind of stuck with me when he said that, and I just took it. His brother actually offered me a volunteer position at UNC, so that is where the coaching started."
What is your most proud or lasting moment as an athlete or coach?
Jacobson: "My proudest moment as an athlete would be hitting my PR. I jumped 1.83m, kind of out of the blue. I was not that good coming out of high school and I just wanted to be on a team and ended up jumping really well my junior and senior years of college. Then coaching, I had an athlete at Arizona who had a monster year in the heptathlon and she PR'd by almost 300 points. Just to see her buy into the program and really see that she could do what she wanted to do, to me that's always really cool, obviously when they figure that out. She became kind of unstoppable after that and she qualified for nationals."
What initially attracted you to Duke?
Jacobson: "Well obviously having worked in the area and worked in the conference before, Duke has, I don't know, this aura around them of really good students, but also really good athletes and good people. What Coach [Shawn] Wilbourn has done within his group for the last six years or so, but how he's taken over the program to is just really cool to see the transformation. I don't think you would notice it if you just looked from this year to last year but seeing kind of how he's made his mark within the athletic department here and with the team is really cool to see."
What is the first Duke experience you'd like to have?
Jacobson: "The Chapel actually. I went by it for the first time last week. As many meets as I have gone to here as a coach, I have not really been on campus, so that was really cool to see."
What is something people may not know about you?
Jacobson: "I'm a big quilter. I love to quilt. There's something about it, where it's really mathematical, which isn't my strong suit, but the fact that it's creative but also really math based is challenging for me and I've always been creative growing up, so quilting is a big hobby of mine actually."
What are your goals for the upcoming season?
Jacobson: "Obviously building on what last year was is huge. A lot of people leaving, new people coming in. I know that with the athletes I've worked with, there's one in particular that was really good in high school, so just helping him go past his marks in high school obviously. I think my biggest focus this year is going to be recruiting and what we can do differently. Obviously, they've done a really good job, they've got really good kids coming in, but that's kind of been what I've been known for the last few years, both at my time in Georgia and at Arizona, so whatever I can do to help get Duke to that next level as far as recruiting goes is kind of my big goal.
Â
To stay up to date with Blue Devils cross country, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeTFXC."
Â
#GoDuke
Â
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