Wizards Name Eddie Jordan Head Coach

Jordan, shaking hands with Wizards Chairman Abe Pollin, brings 11 years of NBA coaching experience to the Wizards. Mitchell Layton/NBAE/Getty Images AUDIO: Jordan Press Conference

Washington Wizards Chairman Abe Pollin announced today that the team has named Eddie Jordan as head coach. Jordan has 11 years of NBA coaching experience, most recently as the lead assistant coach with the New Jersey Nets, who he helped guide to consecutive Eastern Conference Championships in 2002 and 2003.

“We’re very excited to make this announcement,” said Pollin. “Eddie Jordan is the right man for this job. In my numerous interviews around the league in the search for candidates to run my basketball operations, when the subject of a potential head coach came up, one name was the consensus top choice among these executives –Eddie Jordan. While my plan was to hire a President or General Manager first, I revised that plan because I wanted to make sure that Eddie was our coach.”

This will be Jordan’s second head coaching opportunity. He was the head coach of the Sacramento Kings for the final 15 games of the 1996-97 season and the entire 1997-98 campaign, compiling a 33-64 record. Jordan joined the Nets staff on March 17, 1999 and just completed his fourth full season in New Jersey.

“I’m coming home to Washington and I am proud to be the head coach of the Washington Wizards,” Jordan said. “We have a lot of young talent on this roster and I look forward to working with these guys and developing this team into a contender.”

Jordan played in the NBA for seven seasons, and was a member of the 1982 Los Angeles Lakers World Championship team. He was originally drafted by Cleveland in 1977 and led the NBA in total steals during the 1978-79 season as a member of the New Jersey Nets.

Jordan enjoyed a standout college career at Rutgers University where he led the Scarlet Knights to the 1976 NCAA Final Four. He returned to his alma mater following his playing career and served as an assistant coach in the college ranks for eight seasons before joining the Kings staff as an assistant in June of 1992.

Jordan becomes the 20th head coach in team history, replacing Doug Collins, who compiled a 74-90 record in two seasons.

A native Washingtonian, Jordan graduated from Archbishop Carroll High School in 1973. He and his wife Charisse have two children, Jackson and Skylar. Jordan also has two sons, Justin and Eddie Jr.