Washington ? Eddie Jordan was fired as coach of the Washington Wizards on Monday after opening the season 1-10 without injured starters Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood.

The Wizards’ record matches the worst start in franchise history; the only other time the team was 1-10 was in 1966, when it was called the Baltimore Bullets. The final straw for Jordan appears to have been a 122-117 loss Saturday night to the undermanned New York Knicks, who had only seven players available.

“Our 1-10 record is not acceptable and, more importantly, the way we have lost those games is not acceptable,” Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said. “We felt as an organization that it was time to make a change, and we’re looking forward to the team moving in a positive direction.”

Ed Tapscott, the Wizards’ director of player development, took over for Jordan on an interim basis, running his first practice as the new coach Monday morning.

Tapscott never has been an NBA head coach, although he has plenty of front-office experience during a lengthy NBA career.

Jordan was in his sixth season with the Wizards and led the team to the playoffs each of the past four — the longest postseason streak for a Washington coach since Dick Motta did it from 1976-80. Under Jordan, though, the team made it past the first round only once.