Jordan Hulls joins Indiana staff as team and recruiting coordinator
Indiana coach Mike Woodson announced a staff addition and a staff promotion on Monday afternoon.
Jordan Hulls will join the staff as the program’s team and recruiting coordinator while Steven Surface has been promoted to director of basketball operations.
Here’s the full release:
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University men’s basketball coach Mike Woodson has announced that Bloomington native and 2013 Big Ten champion Jordan Hulls will become the Hoosiers Team and Recruiting Coordinator. He will begin his tenure following the conclusion of his season, his ninth as a professional, in the German BBL League where he has played for MHP Riesen in Ludwigsburg, Germany since 2020.
“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.”
Hulls played for the Hoosiers from 2009-13 and was part of a group which won the 2013 Big Ten outright championship, its first in 20 years, made two NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearances and was the No. 1 team in the country for the better part of the 2012-13 season. He finished his career ranked 30th in IU scoring with 1,318 points, was fourth in career three-point field goal percentage (44.1%) and third in career free throw percentage (85.9%). He also made an IU and Big Ten record 58-straight free throws over two seasons in 2010 and ‘11. He is second all-time in games played at IU with 135.
“It’s hard to put into words what this opportunity means to me and my family,” said Hulls. “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.”
Hulls won the National Senior Class Award in 2013 and was a CoSIDA Academic All-American. He won the Director’s Award at the Spirit of Indiana Showcase and was a multiple Academic All-Big Ten honoree. He earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors in 2012 and 2013 and earned the Hoosiers Big Ten Sportsmanship Award in 2012.
Hulls came to IU following a storied career at Bloomington South High School where he was named Indiana’s Mr. Basketball and Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year in 2009 and led the Panthers to a 26-0 record and a Class 4A state title.
Following his graduation from IU with a bachelor’s degree in health and fitness, Hulls played his first season in Poland for Energa Czarni Stupsk before moving to Sigal Prishtina in Kosovo where he was voted as Balkan League Import Player of the Year after leading the squad to Balkan League and Kosovo League championships. He then played for Hubo Limburg United in Belgium in 2015-16 before beginning a six-year career in Germany.
He played for two years for Eisbaren Bremerhaven before playing the last three years for MHP Reisen. He played a key role in helping them to the Basketball Champions League Final Four this season and surpassed the 500 mark in career assists in his German BBL career. Last year, he hit the second most 3-pointers in a single season in league history and ranked fifth all-time in most 3-point field goals made in a career with over 400. His 2019-20 season was cut short due to COVID but in 2018-19, his squad also competed in the FIBA Europe Cup where he was named season MVP.
He and his wife, Aubrey, have two sons, Jackson and Leo, and a daughter, Margaret Louise. His grandfather, John, was an assistant coach on Bob Knight’s first staff and his sister, Kaila, also played basketball for the Hoosiers. Hulls owns the JH1 LLC where he has created a skills academy, a training regimen, and JH1 Elite, an AAU program. In addition, he co-founded Never Lose Hoop which raises money and benefits children who are battling cancer.
Steven Surface Promoted to Director of Basketball Operations
Indiana University men’s basketball coach Mike Woodson has announced that Steven Surface, who has worked with the program the past six years, has been promoted to Director of Basketball Operations. He will be involved with the daily operations and organization of the program, scheduling, team travel, compliance, on-campus recruiting, summer camps and team meals.
“Steven has shown that he is an invaluable member of our staff and his transition in taking on new responsibilities should be seamless,” noted Woodson. “His familiarity with the inner workings of our program and the University is extremely beneficial.”
A native of Carmel, Surface is a 2013 graduate of Carmel High School. He started with the program in the summer of 2016 as an administrative intern and from 2017-19 he served as a graduate assistant for basketball operations. He was promoted to a full-time position as a senior staff assistant in 2019 and served as an operations analyst last year.
“I appreciate the confidence that Coach Woodson is showing in me and I’m really looking forward to this new opportunity,” said Surface.
Surface holds two degrees from IU. He earned his bachelor’s degree with highest distinction in 2017 in sport marketing and management and completed his master’s in athletic administration in 2019.
Filed to: Jordan Hulls