"I think Leonard Hamilton's record is impeccable as far as going into programs and turning it around," Wizards director of basketball operations Michael Jordan said at an afternoon news conference. "That's what we expect here. What he did at the University of Miami is what we're trying to build around."

Jordan turned his attention toward Hamilton after failing in his attempt to hire St. John's coach Mike Jarvis. The deal with Jarvis apparently fell through late last month when the sides could not agree to financial terms.

Jordan had no such problems with Hamilton, but the process was delayed since Hamilton needed to negotiate a buyout of his contract with Miami. He had signed a seven-year contract extension worth more than $5 million in April after leading the Hurricanes to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and a share of the Big East regular-season title.

"Obviously, I'm extremely excited about being part of a new beginning," Hamilton said. "It didn't take long for me to realize with Michael's competitiveness that he wants to build this into a winning basketball program. I just felt a tremendous positive feeling about the direction of the program and I wanted to be a part of it."

Hamilton, 51, becomes the Wizards' fifth coach in three seasons and the second appointed by Jordan. In January, Jordan fired Gar Heard and named Darrell Walker interim coach. In the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, Bernie Bickerstaff was fired and replaced by interim coach Jim Brovelli.

Hamilton has never coached on the NBA level and takes over a franchise that has made just one playoff appearance in the last 12 years, a first-round sweep to the Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in 1997. Amazingly, the franchise has not won a playoff series since 1981-82.

To make matters worse, the Wizards have salary cap problems with veterans Juwan Howard, Rod Strickland and Mitch Richmond signed to huge contracts and they also do not own a first-round pick. Washington finished last in the Atlantic Division with a 29-53 record last season.

Leonard Hamilton reportedly will receive $10 million over the next five years.(AP)

"I'm going to try to bring a tremendous work ethic to this organization," Hamilton said. "I'm sure over a period of time, I'll earn the respect (of the players)."

At Miami, Hamilton took on the challenge of building a program in 1990. After compiling a 34-80 record in his first four seasons, Hamilton started to flourish with his recruits and recorded a 110-67 mark over the next six seasons.

In 1997-98, Hamilton led Miami to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1960. He was named Big East Coach of the Year in 1998-99 when the Hurricanes went 23-7 overall and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Last season, Miami went 23-11 and advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing to Tulsa.

"It's hard to leave a program in which you put 10 years into it," Hamilton said. "But I was not rassling with the decision because I had some doubt we would be successful here. My anxiety was because I worked so hard to build a winning program at Miami and it was difficult to make that decision about leaving them when it appears we are close to being very, very special."

In 14 years of coaching at the college level, Hamilton has a 200-210 record. He previously coached for four years at Oklahoma State.

Wes Unseld is the Wizards general manager, but the hiring of the coach was handled solely by Jordan, who interviewed Lenny Wilkens, the winningest coach in NBA history, and former Chicago Bulls teammate John Paxson for the Wizards job after the season ended.

Perhaps the greatest player in NBA history, Jordan became president and part-owner of the Wizards on Jan. 19. He fired Heard 12 days later, replacing him with Walker. Jordan named Walker as director of player personnel and hired Rod Higgins as assistant general manager last month.