A final decision on whether to hire Eddie Jordan as the new head basketball coach of Rutgers University could be delayed until next week, to allow the university's governing board to review the hefty contract.
Jordan, a former Rutgers star guard who currently serves as a Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach, has apparently reached an agreement with Rutgers to be the Scarlet Knights' next basketball coach in a five-year deal estimated to be in excess of $1 million a year, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
The deal would make Jordan the highest-paid men's basketball coach in school history, a year before the school heads to the Big Ten.
However, before Rutgers inks the deal, Jordan first must meet with Rutgers president Robert Barchi, who is in Trenton this afternoon to testify before the Assembly Budget Committee on the plan to merge the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey with Rutgers.
The big delay, though, may be the university’s Board of Governors, which wants to be more involved in the high profile hire than it has in the past. Sources say the board is also looking to review the deal with Jordan, in the wake of the turmoil which led to the firing of former coach Mike Rice. Those sources declined to be identified because the matter is still in negotiation.
The board has no meetings scheduled in the next week, but can hold a special meeting on 48 hours notice. That would mean the earliest the board could meet on Jordan’s contract, if notice were given today, would be Saturday.
A Rutgers spokesman said no meeting has been scheduled.
The delay has some program boosters worried over team defections, with Jordan unable to have any contact with players until he is confirmed as head coach. Leading scorer Eli Carter reportedly asked for his release on Wednesday, with teammates Mike Poole and Jerome Seagears previously making the same request.
Rutgers has been looking for a coach since Rice was terminated on April 3, after video clips surfaced showing him repeatedly verbally and physically abusing players in practice. Athletic director Tim Pernetti, assistant coach Jimmy Martelli and university general counsel John Wolf resigned shortly after.