Jerry Hulla enters his first season as Assistant Volleyball Coach for Western New Mexico University, bringing more than 30 years of experience to the Mustangs’ coaching staff.
Hulla previously served three seasons as the Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at fellow Lone Star Conference member Texas A&M International University (TAMIU). There he was responsible for all aspects of recruiting: database and budget management, travel scheduling and itinerary development for campus visits, talent evaluation and selection; including financial discussions regarding scholarships. Hulla planned, implemented and oversaw all on-court training with particular attention to setters, liberos and defensive specialists. He designed and implemented all team systems: defensive, offensive, serve-receive and coverage; scouted opponents, developed game plans and facilitated all video exchange. He communicated with the Head Athletic Trainer regarding the health and well-being of the student-athletes, as well as coordinated with the Strength & Conditioning Coaches in developing their year-round programs.
Hulla’s players left their mark on the TAMIU record books, holding 21 of the 27 single game records (in three, four and five game matches) in eight of the nine statistical categories: Hitting Percentage, Kills, Assists (setters), Assists (non-setters), Aces, Solo Blocks, Block Assists and Total Blocks. They’re also well-represented in the Top 10 Individual Season Leaders in Kills (7th and 9th), Hitting Attempts (6th and 10th), Assists (10th), Digs (6th and 7th) and Solo Blocks (10th). Hulla trained an outside hitter who became the All-Time Career Kills (over 1,500) & Career Hitting Attempts (over 4,800) leader, finished 3rd All-Time in Career Digs (over 1,200) and 8th All-Time in Career Hitting Percentage (.213); two setters who finished 3rd (over 2,000) & 7th (over 1,000) in All-Time in Career Assists; a libero who finished 9th All-Time in Career Digs & 7th in digs/season and a middle hitter who finished 9th in solo blocks/season. During his tenure he also coached a two-time All-Heartland Conference 2nd Team honoree, a Heartland Conference Defensive Player of the Week (the first player in program history to win this award) and two All-Tournament Team selections.
In his final season, the team won more conference and overall matches than the previous two seasons combined, plus had fewer losses than the previous two seasons. They also got their first win over St. Edwards in three seasons, their first win over Newman in six seasons, as well as their first series sweep over Newman in seven seasons.
The Dustdevils also achieved success in the classroom, with 19 Heartland Conference President’s Honor Roll and 10 Heartland Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll recipients. The team also earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award, with their 3.53 team GPA being the highest among all TAMIU athletic teams.
Before coming to TAMIU, Hulla spent three seasons as the Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Bemidji State University (BSU) in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), one of the top NCAA Division II volleyball conferences in the country. In addition to being responsible for all aspects of recruiting, he also developed scouting reports, analyzed video, trained the setters and liberos, plus coordinated with the Strength & Conditioning Staff on year-round programs.
During his tenure at BSU, Hulla had a setter finish 5th All-Time in Career Assists and a libero finish 4th All-Time in Career Digs. In addition, he coached the All-Time Career Kills and Hitting Attempts leader, who also finished 8th All-Time in Career Games played. Other players of note who benefited from his tutelage included a middle hitter who finished 10th All-Time in Career Block Assists, plus two outside hitters who reached 1,000 kills in their careers; one of which was only the 3rd player in program history to record both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs during her career.
In the last month of his final season at BSU, Hulla served as the Interim Head Coach and the team earned their first win in eighteen seasons over Minnesota State Mankato (who was receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll), their first series sweep in five seasons over rival Minnesota Crookston and a series sweep over Minot State.
Academically during his time there, the Beavers had 20 student-athletes named to the NSIC Fall All-Academic Team; a Butch Raymond Scholarship recipient; a NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award winner; a NSIC Female Honor Student-Athlete of the Year and a two-time Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Hulla also served as Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance while at BSU and was responsible for twelve Division II Men’s & Women’s sports, plus Division I Men’s & Women’s Ice Hockey. His duties included initial eligibility for incoming student-athletes and transfers; preparation and distribution of National Letters of Intent and Financial Aid Agreements; monitoring continuing eligibility and progress towards degree and graduation, maintaining Institutional Request Lists and certifying and processing official and unofficial visits.
His Division II experience isn’t limited to his time at BSU and TAMIU; he also served one season as the Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA), now a Division I institution. During that time, he was the primary recruiter, responsible for the team’s defense, trained their defensive specialists, created and managed both the Spring and Summer Strength & Conditioning programs, handled opponent scouting and video analysis, plus coordinated a nutrition program with UCA’s Family & Consumer Sciences Department. While at UCA he trained two All-Conference selections and two Conference Players of the Week (one offensive and one defensive), plus helped the Sugar Bears to a 2nd place finish in the Western Division and a Quarterfinal appearance in the Gulf South Conference Tournament.
In addition to his extensive background in Division II, Hulla also has experience in Division I; serving three seasons as the Recruiting Coordinator and Assistant Coach at Towson University and one season at the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
At Towson, he was responsible for all aspects of recruiting and talent evaluation, in addition to on-court coaching, video duties and scouting reports. His 2009 recruiting class received Honorable Mention status from PrepVolleyball.com and he was responsible for signing an Under Armour 2nd Team All-American and Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year to the 2010 class. Hulla also managed all aspects of the Tiger Volleyball Camps and served as the liaison to both the Compliance and Academic Advising departments. During his tenure, he trained two multi-year All-Conference selections and one All-Rookie team member.
At Louisiana-Monroe, he served as the primary recruiter, was responsible for video analysis and opponent scouting, coordinated the Strength & Conditioning program, trained the setters and managed the team’s defense. He also continued his involvement with Athletic Compliance by handling all paperwork necessary to comply with NCAA, conference and university rules.
In addition to his experience as an Assistant Coach in Divisions I and II, Hulla also served as Head Coach at two NJCAA institutions: two seasons at Galveston College and four seasons at CCBC-Catonsville; formerly known as Catonsville Community College.
At Galveston he was responsible for all aspects of the program from recruiting to scheduling; arranging student-athlete housing; scouting opponents and developing game plans; managing statistics and developing the program’s media guide. During his tenure he guided several Whitecaps players to All-Conference and All-Region honors.
At CCBC-Catonsville, he led the Cardinals to back-to-back undefeated seasons within the region (37-0) and conference (22-0), as well as consecutive Maryland Junior College, Region XX and District IV titles. His teams finish as high as 7th at the NJCAA Division II National Championships and 9th in the National poll. His teams played four consecutive seasons at home without a loss. Hulla’s student-athletes went on to gain All-Conference honors 11 times, All-Region honors 10 times (including one All-Tournament MVP), Region XX All-America accolades on two occasions and one garnered NJCAA All-America Honorable Mention. He also saw five players nationally ranked statistically by the NJCAA. while at CCBC-Catonsville he was recognized for his efforts by being twice named Tachikara/AVCA Junior College Northeast/Southeast Region Coach of the Year, NJCAA Division II District Coach of the Year, Region XX Coach of the Year and honored twice as Maryland Junior College Coach of the Year.
International experience is also something Hulla brings to WNMU, having served as the Head Coach for the Bring It Promotions team which participated in the 9th Annual European Global Challenge held in Croatia. His team, a mix of Division I players and international players, finished 5th overall while competing against Junior National Teams from Slovenia, Hungary, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro and the Czech Republic. Additionally, he served as a statistician for the United States Men’s National and World University Games teams in Colorado Springs. There he worked with numerous players who were later selected to the Olympic teams that won Gold in China and Bronze in Brazil. Hulla’s international experience doesn’t end there, as he also served as the Assistant Coach for the UnIted States Disabled Standing National Team. During his four years the team finished 4th at the World Championships in Poland, won the Silver Medal at the Pan-American Championships in Canada and finished 4th at the Paralympic Games in Australia. He trained four All-Tournament Team selections, including a three-time Best Blocker in the World, two-time Best Spiker in the World and one-time Best Receiver in the World. He has also been involved with USA Volleyball’s High Performance Program for over fifteen years, serving as both a talent evaluator and assisting in the selection of members of multiple Youth and Junior National Teams. Hulla is CAP Level IV certified by USA Volleyball.
At the high school level, Hulla has guided numerous programs to extremely successful seasons, including two Maryland State Championships and holding an .800 winning percentage overall. His athletes have received over 55 individual honors and awards at the local, regional and national levels for their accomplishments.
In addition, he has extensive experience as a youth camp instructor; with stops at Stanford, Texas, Florida and Long Beach State, amongst others. He has also spent the last 15 years coaching with Volley Performance Camps and A5 Volleyball Club, one of the most successful volleyball clubs in the country; based out of Roswell, Georgia.
Hulla, who has numerous published works to his credit in periodicals such as Performance Conditioning Volleyball, Coaching Volleyball and Volleyball USA, earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in Information Systems Management.
