Jordan Hulls is all of the good things about Indiana basketball rolled into one. He's a Bloomington kid who has overcome the odds at every step of his basketball journey, and I think it's wonderful that his journey is now coming full circle.
Hulls, a former Indiana Mr. Basketball winner at Bloomington South who was a beloved player at Indiana from 2009 to 2013, is Indiana's new Team and Recruiting Coordinator, with second-year Indiana coach Mike Woodson making the hiring announcement on Monday.
"It's hard to put into words what this opportunity means to me and my family," Hulls said in a release from the school. "Indiana University has been a part of me my whole life and I couldn't be more excited to come home and work with Coach Woodson, the entire staff, and our players in the program.
"The relationships built during my time at IU with my teammates, coaches, and community helped shape me into the person I am today. I'm looking forward to building those same type of relationships as I enter into this new and exciting chapter of life in a different role at IU."
It's another step in the process for him, of course, and it's been a joy just to watch the step-by-step journey that goes back more than a dozen years now. When he was at Bloomington South, a local legacy who's grandfather John coached at Indiana on Bob Knight's first staff, then-Indiana coach Tom Crean had some concerns over whether Hulls was a Big Ten player. But the more they talked and the more Crean got to know him, he knew he had to have Hulls in his program.
A very wise choice.
And he did great things. Hulls was part of a group that healed a lot of wounds in Bloomington, with Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller and Christian Watford and others returning the Hoosiers to national prominence. It was a great time for several years, all thoroughly enjoyable. It ended bad, with that loss to Syracuse in 2013, but everybody lost their last game in that tournament except for Louisville.
It's been great to watch Hulls' post-Indiana life, too. His ''Save the Date'' wedding card of him and wife Aubrey is one of my all-time favorites.
So were the pictures from his wedding.
And for the past nine years, he's played professional basketball in Europe, making a living playing the game he loves. He spent the last six years in Germany, and had a great time. All that work as a kid, that's what it was for, to make a nice living playing pro ball. It doesn't have to be an NBA career to be a great career.
And Jordan Hulls has had a great playing.
It's over now, and the 32-year-old is coming home.
Jordan and Aubrey and their three kids — sons Jackson and Leo, and daughter, Margaret Louise — spent their offseasons in Bloomington already, and now they'll get to be here all the time. He was already doing a lot here, with a skills academy and AAU program that he was a part of. He also co-founded Never Lose Hoop, which raises money and benefits children who are battling cancer.
Mike Woodson is thrilled to have him around. He basically replaces Brian Walsh, who stepped into an assistant coaching role from recruiting coordinator after
Woodson moved on from assistant coach Dane Fife.
"He is a great family man who has competed at the highest level in high school here in Bloomington, as a Hoosier who won a Big Ten title and played for the No. 1 team in the country, and for the last nine years as a professional basketball player overseas," said Woodson. "Anyone you talk to who has spent any amount of time with him has the utmost respect for him. With his experiences, I believe he can be a tremendous asset to our players and staff and we are excited for he and his family to come back home."
Welcome home, Jordan.
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