Jerry Carino

@njhoopshaven

Eddie Jordan’s three-year tenure as Rutgers men’s basketball coach, which started as a feel-good story about a favorite son’s return home, ended Thursday after a painful string of losing.

Athletics director Pat Hobbs, a hoops-savvy guy hired in November to clean up a department in disarray, fired Jordan as was widely anticipated. According to Jordan’s five-year contract, Rutgers owes him $2 million for the final two years. That’s 70 percent of what he would make if he stayed on.

The Scarlet Knights finished 7-25 overall and 1-17 in the Big Ten, marking the program’s lowest winning percentage since 1956. They endured a club-record 17-game losing streak and suffered 32 straight Big Ten defeats dating back to last season.

“I have decided that we need new leadership for our men’s basketball program,” Hobbs said in a statement. “Rutgers University is deeply appreciative of Coach Jordan's efforts these past three years. He is and will always remain a valued member of the Rutgers community.”

WHO WILL REPLACE JORDAN? Take a look at our short list

Jordan’s record ended up at 29-68. As the search for his successor begins, all eyes turn toward Dan Hurley, a brand-name Jersey guy who rebuilt Wagner and Rhode Island. Hobbs’ last men’s basketball coaching search, at Seton Hall, produced Kevin Willard, who is enjoying a breakthrough campaign of 22-8 in his sixth season.

Whoever the next Rutgers coach is, he will enter a situation better than the one Jordan inherited. A point guard on Rutgers’ 1976 Final Four team, Jordan served as an NBA head coach for three different franchises before returning home to put out the fire that raged after former coach Mike Rice’s tumultuous departure.

RELATED: Rutgers must target Dan Hurley to replace Eddie Jordan

He restocked a depleted roster in his first few months, but the Scarlet Knights finished 2014 with a 12-21 mark after a 92-31 loss to Louisville in the American Athletic Conference Tournament. In year two, Rutgers, debuting in the Big Ten, went 10-22 overall and 2-16 in the league, ending with a 15-game losing streak after an upset of fourth-ranked Wisconsin.

RELATED: Jordan: I'm proud of what we've done

This season Rutgers suffered a rash of injuries, often fielding just seven scholarship players, and its two best players served disciplinary suspensions. A 17-game losing streak eclipsed the program record of 16 set in 1987-88.

Jordan has said, with merit, that his primary charge was to heal a program that was broken in Rice’s wake. At the time, respected Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey called for it to be shut down, and TV camera crews roamed the dorms trying to corner mortified players for interviews.

RELATED:5 things to know about a Pat Hobbs coaching search

Upon hiring Jordan, Rutgers President Robert Barchi touted the coach’s devotion to “our university’s values and our commitment to promoting an atmosphere of respect and dignity for everyone.”

In that sense, Jordan did the job. For the most part, his players performed well in the classroom and handled themselves well off the court. They emulated the skipper, who earned his bachelor’s degree while coaching the team and remained likable despite the mounting losses; Rutgers fans declined to boo him at games, as opposed to the way they rained jeers on embattled Rutgers football coach Kyle Flood in the fall.

Jordan also had to contend with institutional drawbacks, from hopelessly antiquated facilities to a naturally awkward conference fit to athletic department leadership that, prior to Hobbs’ hiring, was an industry punchline.

A salient example of the dysfunction: The RAC still lacks air conditioning, two years after its installation was approved.

That said, Jordan struggled to adjust to the college game, from recruiting presence to defensive tactics.

It all added up to a perfect storm of losing, an epic pileup that was too much to overcome, even for a favorite son.

Staff writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannettnj.com.