ROSELLE, N.J. — Now that Dan Hurley has turned down the Rutgers job, the school is focusing on Lakers assistant Eddie Jordan.
Yahoo! Sports reported that Rutgers has offered Jordan the job, but sources told SNY.tv that was not yet the case.
“Eddie would be great,” current SMU and former NBA coach Larry Brown told SNY.tv Friday at Roselle Catholic where he was involved in a coaches’ clinic.
“He’s a Rutgers guy, he’s a great guy. I think that’s a great opportunity. They’re going into the Big Ten. The Big Ten is a phenomenal conference. There’s so many great players in this area, I couldn’t imagine why kids wouldn’t want to stay around here and play.”
And it’s a job Jordan covets.
“The only college I would coach would be Rutgers,” Jordan told The Times of Trenton. ”And I believe it makes complete sense for me to be the next Rutgers coach, or to at least be heavily considered.”
Former South Carolina and Vanderbilt coach Eddie Fogler is running the Rutgers search while the school is in the process of hiring an athletic director.
Jordan was on the Rutgers 1976 Final Four team, and was in the mix the last time around when former AD Tim Pernetti opted for the now fired Mike Rice instead.
In addition to coaching the Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers, Jordan coached the DC Assault 17U team in 2012, which included current Villanova commit Kris Jenkins and North Carolina pledge Nate Britt.
“He is a great coach,” Jenkins told SNY.tv. “I loved playing for him. He taught us about life and basketball. He would be a great college coach.”
Jordan said he enjoyed coaching younger players at that time.
“I’ve made a great living at the college level and in the NBA and I don’t want to retire,” Jordan told NBCSports.com. “I think I could coach another 8 to 10 years in the big leagues, but if it comes it comes.
“At this level, they’re talented, they’re respectful. There’s not the other drama you have to deal with. That’s how basketball was years ago.”
Rutgers interim head coach David Cox also coached with DC Assault and has the support of several current Rutgers players.
Jordan could opt to keep Cox on staff if he were given the job.
For years many of New Jersey’s top players have left the state for greener pastures, but Brown said that if Rutgers gets the right guy, he could keep the area’s top players at home.
“If they get a quality coach with a big name, I don’t think there’s any reason why they wouldn’t want to stay in this area,” Brown said. “It’s a great school academically. It’s a wonderful opportunity for somebody that has some credibility.”
FDU DOWN TO HERENDA, McCARTY
The FDU coaching search is down to Greg Herenda and Walter McCarty, sources confirmed to SNY.tv.
