Eddie Jordan to Rutgers isn’t the slam dunk it was once assumed to be.
The Lakers assistant coach and Rutgers alum will meet with school officials and university president Robert Barchi Thursday, nj.com reported, but there seems to be a disconnect between his asking price and the length of the contract to replace fired head coach Mike Rice, Yahoo! Sports reported.
Rice was fired two weeks ago when video circulated of him abusing players physically and verbally. Athletic director Tim Pernetti resigned as part of the fallout.
A key factor in the negotiations will be whether Rutgers is willing to pay its men’s basketball coach at a Big Ten-level salary, the conference it is joining the year after next, nj.com reported.
Penn State coach Patrick Chambers, the league’s lowest-paid coach, makes a reported $900,000 per year, a number Rutgers never has paid for its basketball coach. Minnesota recently hired Richard Pitino, coming off just one full season as a head coach at Florida International, to a six-year deal worth $1.2 million a year.
The 58-year-old Jordan, a seven-year NBA veteran who has served as a head coach in the NBA with three teams, played on the 1975-76 Final Four team and also was as an assistant coach at Rutgers in the 1980s. He met with Rutgers officials over the weekend.
Manhattan College’s Steve Masiello and La Salle’s Dr. John Giannini reportedly are candidates if the contract talks with Jordan fall apart. A source told The Post, Masiello, a Rick Pitino disciple, would be interested in the job if contacted.
The longer Rutgers goes without a coach, the more players it figures to lose. As it stands, five players are looking to go elsewhere. Sophomore guard Eli Carter and junior forward Mike Poole each have asked for their releases, joining Jerome Seagears, Vincent Garrett and Malick Kone.
Rutgers, however, has yet to grant releases to Poole and Carter, according to sources. A school has up to seven days upon the request to grant the release. Furthermore, top recruit Shane Rector of The Bronx de-committed once Rice was fired, as did junior-college wing Chris Griffin.
David Cox, who has the support of the program’s remaining players and filled in for Rice in December when the former coach was suspended, has been serving as an interim coach. A source said if Jordan is hired, Cox likely would be part of his staff.