It’s as if Jordy Hulls came off the assembly line for the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame:

• His grandfather, John Hulls, was an assistant coach on Bob Knight’s first staff at Indiana University.

• His parents, J.C. Hulls and Joni (Pace) Hulls, were basketball stars (and sweethearts) at Bloomington North.

• In his senior year of high school he led Bloomington South to an undefeated season and state title while also garnering the state’s highest honor, Mr. Basketball.

• His high school coach, J.R. Holmes, went on to become Indiana’s all-time winningest basketball coach.

• He played his college basketball in his hometown, helping Indiana University rise from the ashes to gain a No. 1 ranking and Big Ten title in 2013.

• And after a successful pro career in Europe, he came back to Bloomington to become an assistant coach at IU.

Would it surprise anyone if he bore a stamp reading, “Made in Monroe County, USA?” No wonder he is about to enter the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame at the youthful age of 34.

“I had a lot of help,” Hulls said. “I had great AAU coaches — Kenny Blackwell, Bob Prior, Criss Beyers — and parents willing to let me play travel ball. It’s nothing you can do by yourself. They helped me keep my head on straight.”

The only design flaw was that Hulls had to stand on his toes to measure up to six feet.

“I was six foot on a good day,” he admits.

Hulls was title bound at South

And although Hulls scored over 1,000 points in high school, thanks to deadly 3-point shooting and near-automatic free throw shooting, he never boasted a high scoring average. His three-year average was a modest 12.4.

Hulls was a complete player, though — unselfish with the ball, constantly looking for the open teammate, making those around him better, and dependable in the clutch. In his three years on the varsity, the Panthers went 67-7. They reached the semistate his sophomore year before losing to Eric Gordon’s North Central team. After going 19-1 in his junior year, the Panthers were ambushed by an East Central slowdown game in the sectional opener, 33-30.

In the end that sectional loss fueled the Panthers throughout the 2008-09 season. With four future Division I players (Hulls, Dee Davis, Spencer Turner, Eric Fromm), they were rarely challenged, outscoring opponents by an average of 23.6 points.

Two of the three closest games were the last two: a 58-55 win over Franklin in the semistate and a 69-62 win over Fort Wayne Snider in the 4A title game. The only regular season game settled by less than double digits was a 73-67 decision over nationally ranked Detroit Country Day featuring former Bloomingtonian Ray McCallum Jr. By season’s end the Panthers were ranked No. 3 nationally among public schools.

It didn’t hurt that the Panthers were coached by the ageless Holmes, who is still going strong after piling up 911 wins over 55 years. Hulls chuckled at the thought that Holmes is still at it, 15 years since he played for him.

“J. R. was always saying he would retire after this player or that, but I’m not surprised because he is such a competitor," Hulls said. "After you play for him, you appreciate it. I’m grateful for what he did for me. Losing my junior year in the first game of the sectional really motivated us. We had a lot of seniors, so to get that done our senior year was special.

"If you look at my stats, it wasn’t about points or assists. It was because we were so dominant. That’s probably why I got Mr. Basketball. As a kid, you grow up watching the Hoosiers and wanting to wear No. 1 in the Indiana-Kentucky All-Star Game.”

‘I never knew it would be so hard’

It wasn’t until his junior year that Hulls started getting college offers, “practically begging them to recruit me,” he says.

As his game improved and the Panthers kept winning, the offers trickled in. Purdue was first, followed by IU and then Duke. Hulls was scheduled to visit Duke when he decided to stay in Bloomington. Even though he longed to be Hoosier from the days Bob Knight patrolled McCracken Court, accepting IU’s offer was not made in haste.

“I didn’t accept it (IU’s offer) on the spot — any kid would want to say ‘yes’ — but I weighed my options, and Coach (Tom) Crean did a great job recruiting me.”

However, two years after that decision Hulls was wondering if he had made the right choice. The Hoosiers were still in the throes of the post-Kelvin Sampson era, which forced Crean to do a complete rebuild. In Hulls’s first season the Hoosiers were coming off the worst season in school history, 6-25, and Hulls then had to endure seasons of 10-21 and 12-20.

“When I first committed to IU, I had been a winner my whole life, and then to come in and try to rebuild what Coach (Bob) Knight had started … I never knew it would be so hard,” Hulls said. “That first year I never lost so much in my life. The second year was almost as bad.”

It wasn’t until the 2011-12 season that the corner was turned, thanks to the arrival of mobile 7-footer Cody Zeller and the coming of age of holdovers Hulls, Victor Oladipo, Christian Watford, Verdell Jones and Will Sheehey.

Hulls, Hoosiers take off

Although the Hoosiers promptly won their first seven games, they were still searching for validation, and what better opponent to supply than No. 1 Kentucky. With eight minutes to go, it looked as though the Hoosiers were up to the challenge, leading by 10 points, but the Wildcats chipped away and took a 72-70 lead in the final seconds.

It was there that Jones took an inbounds pass and began maneuvering his way up court. When he ventured into the circle, he whirled and dished to Watford trailing behind him at the 3-point line on the left wing. Watford’s shot was in the air when the horn sounded, and after it splashed through the net the Assembly Hall fans exploded. The ensuing pandemonium is a scene still played out regularly on videos of legendary shots.

Hulls, who already had sunk a trio of 3-pointers earlier in the game, could have been an option for the last attempt, but he was perfectly content to be a spectator for the “Wat Shot.”

“I was up in the right corner (opposite Watford), and I saw the play developing,” Hulls said. “Verdell kind of audibled and got downhill. After the shot, I ran across the floor to make sure everybody didn’t jump on Christian.”

Later that year the Hoosiers also beat No. 2 Ohio State, making them the first IU team to beat Nos. 1 and 2 in the same season. They went on to win 27 games and become the first IU team in a decade to reach the Sweet Sixteen, losing a hard-fought game to none other than Kentucky.

“Nobody thought we would be that good, that we were still a year away, but we were sick of losing and had chips on our shoulders,” Hulls said.

The following season, Hulls’s senior year, was the best since the Hoosiers reached the Final Four in 2002. With Yogi Ferrell joining Hulls in the backcourt, the Hoosiers won 29 games and spent 10 weeks ranked No. 1.

The highlight was capturing an outright Big Ten title, the first IU team to become an undisputed champion in 20 years. (The 2002 Hoosiers were co-conference champions.) Although the Hoosiers lost to Syracuse in the Sweet 16 (with Hulls hampered by an injured shoulder), winning a league title took away some of the sting.

“It’s so hard to hard to win championships,” Hulls said. “It was special to see where we came from as freshmen. To be one of the best IU teams in a while was what I wanted.”

Hulls left IU holding the Big Ten record for consecutive free throws made (58), finishing second on IU’s all-time list for 3-pointers (254) and placing third best free throw percentage (.859). After the difficult start, the Hoosiers finished 78-57 in Hulls’ four years. He was a Third Team All-American, a Big Ten All-Academic member and a recipient of the Director’s Award at the 2013 Spirit of Indiana Showcase.

Back home in Bloomington

His playing days weren’t over, fashioning a nine-year pro career in Europe in which he was named the MVP of the Europe Cup League in 2019.

His jump shot traveled well. While playing in Germany, he put together multiple 50/50/90 splits — shooting better than 50 percent from the field, 50 percent from the 3-point line and 90 percent from the 3-point line. In 2022 a list of the world’s top 3-pointers over the last 13 years had Hulls at No. 5, just ahead of Steph Curry.

The 2022 season would be the last for Hulls overseas after receiving a call from IU asking if he would be interested in joining Mike Woodson’s staff.

“I would be still playing there (Europe) today if IU hadn’t called,” he said. “I wasn’t searching for jobs. I planned on staying overseas, living the good life (with his wife, Aubrey, and four children). But then I got the call. I thought it was a great opportunity to come back home. I was overseas nine years and missed a lot back here.”

Hulls’ role is Recruiting Coordinator/Assistant Coach. He finds himself back in the rebuilding mode again as the Hoosiers had to replace four starters his first year, 2022-23, and face another roster rebuild this past season after losing center Kel’el Ware to the NBA and several members of a squad that failed to make the NCAA.

Searching tirelessly in the transfer portal since season’s end, Hulls and the rest of the staff landed a group of newcomers ranked among the top three recruiting classes in the country.

“We’ve had a great recruiting haul,” he said. “We are excited about all the competitors, guys who want to compete, play hard. A great off-season is Step 1. Now we have to put the pieces together.”

Because of the fluidity of rosters in present-day college basketball, the job is never finished, though.

“You used to get a break after the season but now … with the transfer portal you are working all the time – a phone call here, a text there," Hulls said. "It makes for longer days, and it’s never-ending. You almost have to re-recruit your current team. You’ve got to get good character guys, guys who want to be here.”

When Hulls was a middle schooler, he penned a list of goals he wanted to achieve as a basketball player. The list is still clear in his mind: “State championship, Mr. Basketball, Division I scholarship, make the NBA...”

Although he didn’t quite make the NBA, he certainly checked the rest of those boxes, and now he can add “Hall of Famer.”

Banquet ticket info

The Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame Awards Banquet is set for Friday, July 19, at the Monroe Convention Center. Tickets are $50 and available through the organization’s website, www.monroecountyshof.org. Reservation deadline is July 12.

Lynn Houser covered sports for the Bloomington Herald-Times from 1984-2012. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Full circle brings Jordan Hulls to Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame