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A former Pepperdine and Rutgers-Newark men’s volleyball player will join the Loyola coaching staff for the upcoming season.
The Loyola athletics department announced Wednesday that Mark Hulse was hired as an assistant coach for the 2012 season.
Hulse graduated from Pepperdine in 2009 after a four-year college career and most recently was the head coach of the D1 Chicago Volleyball Club, a nationally competitive 18-year-old boys’ team.
Hulse played two seasons with Pepperdine from 2008-09. As a junior, he finished in the nation’s top 10 with a 1.36 blocks per game average and helped Pepperdine reach the NCAA championship match.
Prior to playing at Pepperdine, Hulse began his college career as the starting setter at Rutgers-Newark. Hulse — an Evanston, Ill., native — averaged more than 9.50 assists per game in his freshman and sophomore seasons before he transferred to Pepperdine and switched positions to middle attacker.
“I am very excited about having Mark join our staff. He brings valuable insight from his years playing at Pepperdine, which will help us further develop our middle position,” Loyola head coach Shane Davis said in statement released Wednesday. “In the office, Mark is a diligent and capable worker. He strives to exceed expectations rather than just meet them. All of this, combined with his energy and enthusiasm for Loyola, his passion for and understanding of the game, and his familiarity with the city of Chicago from having grown up here, makes me confident that he is a fantastic fit for our program.”
While in college, Hulse also served as an assistant coach for Adversity Volleyball Club’s 16’s team that competed at the 2007 USA Volleyball Junior Nationals.
Loyola finished last season ranked in the final top 15 coaches poll and lost to Ohio State in the MIVA Tournament championship match for the second consecutive season.
Hulse is the lone assistant coach currently on Davis’ staff for the upcoming season. This coaching position became open in May after Matt Martin, the 2010 AVCA Men’s Volleyball Assistant Coach of the Year, left the university.