Eddie Jordan, a model student, to graduate Rutgers in May

Susan Schurman had a feeling Eddie Jordan would be a good student. She did not know the Rutgers men's basketball coach would be a great one.

"Eddie Jordan was outstanding, just outstanding," said the dean of Rutgers' School of Management and Labor Relations, who taught Jordan in a course called Group Dynamics and Team Leadership. "He performed at a level probably better than most master's students. The younger students looked up to him, and he just impressed everyone."

Barring an unforeseen setback, the 60-year-old Jordan will earn his undergraduate degree May 17, one month from today.

Earned is the key word here.

By several accounts, Jordan hit the books hard over the past two years. He studied on flights to games. He joined players during study hall, arriving early and typing away on his laptop. He wrote papers late into the night. He took some courses online and attended others in person, sitting front and center and engaging professors and classmates alike.

"Every day it was practice, film, school work, papers, readings," Jordan said Thursday. "My laptop went to bed with me. It was a lot of late nights, early mornings. It has been challenging. It has been rewarding."

His bachelor of science will be in Labor Studies and Employment Relations.

"I have kept tabs on him as he's made his way through the program, and without exception everyone has said the same thing: He's been a terrific student," Schurman said. "I think it's extraordinary that he's been able to do this. He has exceeded all our expectations."

Something to prove

Jordan, who attended Rutgers from 1973-77 before playing eight years in the NBA, earned 109 credits during his time as a regular student -- 11 shy of the graduation requirement. After his academic standing came to light in 2013, on the heels of his introduction as Rutgers' head coach, it was determined that Jordan actually had much further to go. The problem? His old major, physical education, was no longer offered by the university.

He had to find a new concentration.

"I should have buckled down and done things the right way in the classroom the first time," Jordan said. "I wanted to prove this time around that I could be that sort of student -- who would be disciplined and really relish the quality of being taught, respecting my professors, respecting the process."

He took two courses during summer sessions and one in each in regular semester. Last summer, the class meetings prevented him from attending some pep rallies in the run-up to Rutgers' entry into the Big Ten Conference. He put academics first, and his players noticed.

"He earned a lot of respect from all of us," said senior guard Stephen Zurich, who is graduating next month with a degree in economics. "We'd be on road trips and we'd have study hall and he would be there too, on his laptop. If we had it at 6 he would already be there when we walked in. That's walking the walk."

Each day after practice Jordan spoke with his players about their schoolwork. These discussions went beyond, "You have to study." They compared test scores and projects.

"I told them, 'I have assignments and you have assignments. Let's get it done,'" he said. "I tried to be for them what I thought I needed (as a student in the 1970s); I needed a buddy who was academically inclined."

All four of Rutgers' seniors will receive degrees next month. A strong academic culture already was in place when Jordan arrived. The upcoming commencement will be its latest advertisement, and the best one yet.

"Nobody gets a break because they're an athlete and nobody gets a break because they're a famous person in our school," Schurman said. "You do the work and you get the grade. You don't do the work, you don't get the grade."

Embracing the moment

Anyone who has taught on the college level will tell you: Older students tend to be better students. Like veteran athletes focused on one last shot at an elusive title, back-to-school adults take their credit hours seriously.

Jordan had a lot to learn when he returned to the classroom. Some of his courses required teamwork done in online chat rooms -- a concept that in his heyday would have seemed as far-fetched as class on Mars.

"I've come across a lot of guys his age who don't even know how to use a computer," said Brad Wachtel, Jordan's director of basketball administration. "When Eddie started here he knew how to use a computer, but there's a million things he had to do online. He taught himself Microsoft Word and Microsoft Power Point, and the whole Rutgers online system. He'll ask for assistance once in a while, but he's become much more technologically sound because of this -- and he can relate much better to the student-athletes."

There were days when a sticky management situation would pop up and Jordan would say, "hey, I learned about that this week," Wachtel said. As coincidence would have it, Jordan was taking an employment law course when former player Jerome Seagears frivolously named him as a co-defendant in a lawsuit against the school stemming from the Mike Rice saga.

"He's gone above and beyond, does all the extra credit," Wachtel said. "If he gets an 85 on a test he's a little mad."

This semester's course, his final one, is Perspectives on Labor Studies.

"If I do a really good job I could graduate with honors, believe it or not," Jordan said, adding that he plans to walk at the ceremony. "I'm just going to be a normal student. I want to enjoy the moment."

During his Thursday night interview with a reporter, Jordan briefly stepped away from the phone to address a problem: His laptop was low on battery and needed to be charged.

"I'm writing a paper now," he said.

Staff writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannettnj.com.