Eddie Jordan, the former Sacramento and Washington head coach, will be the next head coach of the 76ers, the team announced late Friday night.
Details of the hiring have not been released, but Comcast Sportsnet is reporting that the deal is for three years.
Jordan will be introduced at a press conference on Monday.
“I saw first-hand the immense impact Eddie Jordan had in helping the Nets reach two NBA Finals and as the head coach in Washington, he consistently put his teams in a position to win on a nightly basis," Sixers president Ed Stefanski said in a release. "He embodies all the qualities I was looking for in the next head coach of the Sixers and we are very excited to have him in Philadelphia."
With his background with Stefanski the hire should come as no surprise. Jordan was the lead assistant coach in New Jersey when the Nets went to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. At the same time, Stefanski was working his way up in the front office of the New Jersey organization.
Neither Eddie Jordan nor his agent returned calls Friday night, and a phone call and e-mail to Stefanski were not returned.
“He needs a coach and I’m a coach that’s looking for a job,” Jordan told the Associated Press shortly before he interviewed with the Sixers for the first time on May 15. Sometime this past week he interviewed a second time.
Jordan was coach of the Wizards from 2003 until this past November when he was fired after the team’s 1-10 start. In five full seasons with the Wizards, Jordan took them to the playoffs four straight years.
Jordan also was head coach in Sacramento for the final 15 games of the 1996-97 season then all of 97-98 and finished with a 33-64 record.
His overall record as a head coach is 230-288.
In his junior year of college, Jordan led Rutgers University to the Final Four. As a senior he was an honorable mention All America and set school records for asssistas and steals.
Drafted in the second round by Cleveland in the 1977 draft, Jordan went on to play for the Cavs, New Jersey and Los Angeles in his seven-year career.
The Sixers job opened up on May 11 when Tony DiLeo declined to be a considered for the post after coaching the team from Dec. 13, 2008 through the end of the season compiling a 32-27 record after Maurice Cheeks was fired.
Stefanski also looked at Dallas assistant and former Minnesota coach Dwane Casey, whom he interviewed twice, Boston assistant Tom Thibodeau, Los Angeles assistant Kurt Rambis, and former Boston and Sixers coach Chris Ford as well as Villanova coach Jay Wright. Wright backed out of consideration almost immediately and the Sixers informed Rambis earlier this week that he was out of the running.