Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin, spurned by Larry Brown and Jeff Van Gundy, realized he could not let Eddie Jordan get away, too. His pitch to the New Jersey Nets assistant during their interview Wednesday was so attractive -- four years, roughly $12 million -- that Jordan couldn't wait to get home to inform Pollin he would take the head coaching job that had been held by seven people since the team last made the playoffs in 1997.

"In my three-hour drive back [to New Jersey], the deal got done," said Jordan, a native Washingtonian who attended Archbishop Carroll High School. "It's pretty difficult on a cell phone driving 31/2 hours on highway 95."

Ironically, Jordan, 48, closed the deal while driving through the outskirts of Philadelphia where he interviewed with the 76ers on Tuesday for their head coaching job. The Nets also tried to keep him, offering him a pay raise. The Wizards' job, though, was the one he wanted.

"I wasn't going to have any type of negotiating back and forth," Jordan said yesterday at a news conference to announce his hiring.

Jordan replaces Doug Collins, who was fired last month after consecutive 35-win seasons. Jordan said he was not afraid to take a job where coaches have had a short shelf life, in part because Pollin promised him time to develop the nucleus of young players, headed by Jerry Stackhouse, Kwame Brown, Larry Hughes, Jared Jeffries and Juan Dixon.