Former IU Men’s Basketball Player and Bloomington Grad Jordan Hulls joining IUMBB Staff
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 and led his team to a 3rd place finish in European Champions League Final Four in Bilbao Spain this past weekend .
“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 #1 team in the country, and for the last nine years as a professional basketball player overseas,” said Woodson in Press Release. “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 #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 in Press Release. “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.
IUWBB Head Coach Teri Moren to serve as Assistant Coach for USA Basketball U-18 Team
Indiana head coach has been announced as an assistant coach for the 2022 USA Basketball women’s U18 national team. This will be Moren’s first official stint with USA Basketball as she also served as a court coach for the U19 World Cup Team trials in May 2021. Texas A&M’s Joni Taylor will serve as head coach while Old Dominion’s DeLisha Milton-Jones will join Moren as an assistant.
“I am honored to be a part of USA Basketball’s U18 National Team,” Moren said in Press Release. “It will be an exciting opportunity to work alongside great coaches and the some of the best young players. I’m looking forward to representing our country through basketball.”
A now-biennial event launched in 1988 and open to athletes 18 years old or younger, the FIBA Americas U18 Championship features eight national teams from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean. The USA Basketball women claimed 10-straight gold medals from 2000-2018, as well as in 1988, and silver medals in 1992 and 1996. USA Basketball is 59-2 in FIBA Americas U18 Championship action. Trials for the 2022 team will be held May 31-June 4 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Entering her ninth season with the Hoosiers in 2022-23, Moren has guided the program to four NCAA Tournament appearances and seven consecutive 20-win seasons. IU finished the 2021-22 season by tying a program-record 24 wins and advanced to its first Big Ten Tournament championship game in 20 years. In her eight seasons, Indiana is 172-89 as she is the program’s second all-time winningest coach as she has advanced to back-to-back Sweet Sixteen Appearances, an Elite Eight appearance in 2021 and a WNIT championship in 2018. All five starters garnered All-Big Ten honors in 2021-22 and Junior Forward Mackenzie Holmes and Grace Berger hauled in a combined 4All-American honorable mentions. In addition, Indiana was ranked as high as #4 in the Associated Press and #5 in the WBCA/USA Today coaches’ poll in 2021-22.
Former IU Football Player Rhett Lewis named Radio Analyst for IU Football
Former Indiana wide receiver and NFL Network broadcaster Rhett Lewis has been named the Hoosiers new football radio analyst, IU Athletics and IU Sports Properties announced on Monday afternoon. Lewis played at Indiana from 2001-05. He graduated with a B.S. in sports broadcasting in 2005 and a M.S. in sports administration in 2006.
“You don’t stop being a Hoosier when you take the helmet off for the last time,” Lewis said in Press Release. “The passion ‘For the Glory of old IU’ always remains. I’m so thankful to Scott Dolson, Coach Tom Allen, Mark Deal, and Jeff Keag for allowing me to connect with IU Football these last few years in a way that was so accessible and welcoming. That connection made me want to get even closer to the program in any way I could. When Buck Suhr retired after a fantastic 17-year run in this role the fit was too good to be true. Most importantly, to get to work side-by-side with the legendary Don Fischer, the best voice in the business, is an absolute dream come true.”
Fischer, who will enter his 50th season as the ‘Voice of the Hoosiers’ in 2022, is excited to team up with Lewis.
“I’m really looking forward to Rhett joining our broadcast team this fall,” Fischer said in Press Release. “Rhett has been a broadcaster ever since he graduated from IU, and his excellence is proven through his eight years with the NFL Network and on SiriusXM. He will be a great addition to our team.”
Lewis is a host across several NFL Network programs, including NFL Now, NFL Total Access, and Path to the Draft. He also is a host on various SiriusXM shows, including regular appearances on SiriusXM Big Ten Radio. In 2014, Lewis spent five years as an anchor and reporter at WHDH in Boston, where he began using his middle name of Lewis as his last name professionally. He covered all four major pro championships (Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series, Stanley Cup Finals), and five championships in total. Before joining WHDH in May of 2009, Lewis spent eight months at WVUE, the Fox affiliate in his hometown of New Orleans, and he spent two years as the sports director at the CBS affiliate (KLBK) in Lubbock, Texas. Lewis also interned with WISH-TV in Indianapolis.
His father, Dean Kleinschmidt, served as Indiana’s head football trainer from 2004-06. Dean was a head trainer in the NFL for 41 seasons – 31 with the New Orleans Saints, two with the Washington Redskins, and eight with the Detroit Lions. A 1970 IU graduate, Dean is in the National Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame and the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame.
Rhett’s wife, Kayna – an honorary Hoosier, is also in television as a national correspondent for ABC News. They have two future Hoosier wide receivers, Conway (4) and Wylder (3).
Indiana Men’s Basketball promotes Steven Surface 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 in Press Release. “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 in a Press Release.
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.
Indianapolis Indians Coverage
Indians Travel to Charlotte to Begin Six Game Series with The Knights
The Indianapolis Indians will take on the Charlotte Knights in Game 1 of a six-game series at 6:35 pm this evening at Truist Field in Charlotte North Carolina. The Indians are 14-14 on the season dropping four out of five games to Louisville last week at Victory Field. Charlotte is 12-18 on the season and lost four out of six last week at Gwinnett. The Teams will play tomorrow night at 6:35pm, Thursday through Saturday at 7:04pm and Sunday at 1:35pm.
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