The Mike Rice era is technically over. After video surfaced of Rice abusing his players, Rutgers University fired him and have now found his replacement.
, Eddie Jordan has agreed to become the next head coach of the Rutgers men’s basketball team, and it will be up to Jordan to move the team away from the embarrassing scandal it just endured.
Jordan is returning to his alma mater in becoming the Scarlet Knight’s new head coach. Johnson played on the Rutgers basketball team from 1973-77 and was actually a candidate to become the head coach at Rutgers back in 2010 before being passed up for the job in favor of Rice. Jordan wasn’t even the first pick this time around for Rutgers, but despite that the school will be paying Jordan over $1 million, according to the Star-Ledger.
According to USA Today, the deal to hire Jordan will pay him upwards of $6 million over five years.
"Sources with knowledge of the situation said Jordan has agreed in principle to a deal in the ballpark of five-years and $6.25 million. Pending an expected sign-off by the university’s board of governors today, the 58-year-old Los Angeles Lakers assistant will become the Scarlet Knights’ 18th men’s basketball head coach."
In hiring Jordan, Rutgers is bringing a former NBA head coach into the fold, albeit one that had his fair share of failures. Jordan’s first gig in the NBA saw him coaching the Sacramento Kings, but he was fired after his first season. He then bounced around with jobs in Washington and most recently in Philadelphia.
But perhaps the most important part of Jordan’s hiring is his hometown value. He maintains a home in Montgomery and gives the Scarlet Knights a fresh start, one as far away from Mike Rice as humanly possible.