Eddie Jordan and his Princeton offense flunked in Philadelphia and it cost the coach his job.
On Thursday morning the 76ers officially fired Jordan after one season.
Team president Ed Stefanski announced the move Thursday. The Sixers took an "unacceptable" step backward after two straight seasons in the playoffs, said Stefanski.
Jordan is finished after an underachieving season that had the Sixers mired near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Jordan was hired last summer and sold his Princeton offense as the way to turn them into contenders.
Instead, players were unhappy with his system almost from the start. The Sixers finished 27-55 and missed the playoffs for the first time in three years.
The Sixers now must find their fourth coach in three seasons. Jordan, who was fired last season by Washington, had two years left on his contract and is owed $6 million.
"Decisions of this nature are never easy, but I am making this change because I didn’t feel significant progress was being made on either end of the court," Stefanski said. "As the season progressed, it became increasingly clear to me that this was necessary in order to provide a new direction for our team and gain more continuity."
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The question now is whether Stefanski is next to go. He hired Jordan last May in part because of ties dating back to the Eds days at Rutgers.
Stefanski also was unable to make a major trade at the deadline this season. And, he is stuck under large deals he gave to underachieving players like Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala.
Jordan said Wednesday he was "not concerned" about his job security before the Sixers lost to the Magic 125-111 to end the season. Jordan had said he anticipated a team meeting, player-exit meetings and taking his staff out to lunch on Thursday.
"If you want to be judged alone on the record, then we are where we are," Jordan said. "But as far as track record, as far as how the league works, as far as evaluating your personnel, maybe we need more time."
He won't get any more.
Jordan's dismissal was widely speculated for months. His hire was panned by fans and media from the day he arrived and the players never warmed to the Princeton offense.
Marreese Speights, Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams were among the promising core of young players whose progress took a major step back this season. Brand hasn't performed up to the $80 million contract Stefanski gave him two summers ago, Samuel Dalembert was his usual erratic self and Iguodala continued to prove he can't carry the franchise.
The decision to bring back former franchise great Allen Iverson was also a short-lived bust.
"The talent is there, it is just a matter of putting it all together," Iguodala said Wednesday.
Philadelphia was the Eastern Conference's No. 6 seed last season, eliminated in the first round by the Magic in six games. Now the Sixers are headed for the draft lottery. Their only key loss was point guard Andre Miller.
"They judged the team from their performance last year and the personnel lost," Jordan said. "Obviously, the personnel changed, maybe, maybe expectations should change. Maybe."
Brand was healthy for the first time in three years, but the power forward who was once a 20-10 regular, was often benched for long stretches and crucial fourth quarters. Jordan openly criticized Brand and Dalembert's effort and missing defensive awareness after a loss last week.
"There were times things happened (under Jordan), but it was a feel-out process during the season," Brand said after Wednesday night's game. "That is understandable and didn't work that well for us as the record indicates."
No one expected the Sixers to contend for the Eastern Conference title. But this kind of steep dropoff was a surprise.
