Donald Joseph Tyndall (born June 14, 1970) is an American
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
coach currently working as the head coach for
Chipola College
Chipola College is a public college in Marianna, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System.
History
The school was founded in 1947 as Chipola Junior College; its name was changed in 2003 after the college developed several bachelor's ...
of the
NJCAA. Tyndall played college basketball at
Iowa Central Community College and
Morehead State
Morehead State University (MSU) is a public university in Morehead, Kentucky. The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a two-year residential ea ...
and has been a basketball coach since 1994. His teams are known for pressing and playing an unconventional match-up zone, a highly successful variation of the defensive system employed by coach
Rick Pitino at Louisville.
Tyndall began his coaching career at the junior college level, first as an assistant at Iowa Central Community College from 1994 to 1996. He had his first head coaching position in the 1996–97 season at
St. Catharine College, where he had 30 wins. Tyndall moved up to the NCAA level as an assistant coach at
LSU
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
,
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
, and
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the s ...
from 1997 to 2006.
Returning to his alma mater, Tyndall was head coach at Morehead State from 2006 to 2012. Tyndall turned around a losing program into a top performer in the
Ohio Valley Conference. In six seasons, he had 114 wins and two NCAA Tournament appearances, including an upset of no. 4 seed
Louisville in the
2011 tournament. From 2012 to 2014, Tyndall was head coach at
Southern Miss
The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...
; he was head coach at
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
in the 2014–15 season. However, violations of academic eligibility and financial aid rules came to light in 2015, causing Tyndall to be fired from Tennessee after one season. In 2016, the NCAA found Tyndall liable for the violations, vacating all of his wins at Southern Miss and banning him from the collegiate coaching ranks for 10 years.
Coaching career
As an assistant / Junior College head coach
After graduating from
Morehead State University in 1993, Tyndall began coaching at the junior college level. From 1994 to 1996, he was assistant coach at
Iowa Central Community College. Tyndall had his first head coaching position in the 1996–97 season at
St. Catharine College in
Springfield, Kentucky
Springfield is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in and county seat of Washington County, Kentucky, Washington County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,846 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
History
Spring ...
. Tyndall led St. Catharine to a 30–5 record and the school's first-ever
NJCAA tournament appearance. In 1997, Tyndall earned NJCAA Region 7 National Coach of the Year and Kentucky Junior College Coach of the Year honors.
After his season at St. Catharine, Tyndall got his first NCAA Division I coaching position as an assistant at
LSU
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
under
John Brady, a position he would hold from 1997 to 2001.
Tyndall helped LSU finish first in the
SEC West Division in the 1999–00 season and make the Sweet 16 round of the
2000 NCAA tournament. This LSU team also featured
Stromile Swift
Stromile Emanuel Swift ( ; born November 21, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. At 6'10" and 220 lbs, he played the power forward and center positions. He is now the varsity boys' basketball head coach at Word of God A ...
, the #2 pick in the
2000 NBA draft.
In the 2001–02 season, Tyndall served as associate head coach at
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
under
Leonard Perry
Leonard Perry Jr. (born June 13, 1968) is an American college basketball coach, currently head coach at the University of the Pacific. Originally from Dallas, Perry played college basketball at McLennan Community College and the University of Id ...
.
From 2002 to 2006, Tyndall was associate head coach at
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the s ...
under
Kermit Davis
John Kermit Davis Jr. (born December 14, 1959) is an American college basketball coach for the Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball, Ole Miss Rebels. Davis was previously the head coach at Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball, Middle Tennes ...
. Middle Tennessee had winning seasons all four of those seasons.
Morehead State (2006–2012)
In his first Division I head coaching job, Tyndall served as head coach at his alma mater
Morehead State
Morehead State University (MSU) is a public university in Morehead, Kentucky. The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a two-year residential ea ...
from 2006 to 2012. Morehead State under Tyndall won the
Ohio Valley Conference tournaments of
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
and
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
and earned automatic NCAA Tournament bids those years. Morehead State also made the
2010 College Basketball Invitational
The 2010 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a single-elimination tournament of 16 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that did not participate in the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament or the 201 ...
.
In August 2010, the NCAA placed Morehead State on two years' probation for violations by boosters.
As a #13 seed, Morehead State upset #4 seed
Louisville 62-61 in the first round of the
2011 NCAA tournament.
Southern Miss (2012–2014)
Tyndall was the head coach at the
Southern Miss
The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...
from 2012 to 2014. Southern Miss made the
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...
in
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
and
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
and finished first in
Conference USA
Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...
standings for the 2013–14 season. Tyndall went 56–17 as head coach at Southern Miss, but in 2016, the NCAA vacated all 56 wins due to academic fraud.
Tennessee (2014–2015)
On April 22, 2014, Tyndall was hired as head basketball coach at the University of Tennessee, after spending the previous two seasons as the head basketball coach at Southern Miss.
Tennessee finished
16–16 in what would be Tyndall's only season as head coach.
On March 27, 2015, Tennessee fired Tyndall after the NCAA notified Tennessee officials of possible major violations at Southern Miss relating to academic ineligibility and improper financial aid.
[ According to a copy of Tyndall's termination letter, Tyndall had lied to Tennessee officials about the extent of the violations on several occasions.][ Athletics director Dave Hart said that Tyndall would likely have faced significant discipline from the NCAA for his role in the violations at Southern Miss and would have never hired Tyndall had the true extent of the violations at Southern Miss been known.][
Tyndall was the second Tennessee coach to be ensnared in a major NCAA infractions scandal, following ]Bruce Pearl
Bruce Alan Pearl (born March 18, 1960) is an American college basketball coach, and the head coach of the Auburn Tigers men's basketball team. He previously served as the head coach at Tennessee, Milwaukee, and Southern Indiana. Pearl led Souther ...
. According to ESPN, Hart and other officials were still smarting from Pearl having to sit out eight SEC games for violations related to his own scandal. They were unwilling to face the prospect of Tyndall facing an equally lengthy suspension.[
]
NCAA sanctions
On April 8, 2016, the NCAA imposed a 10-year show-cause penalty In the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), a show-cause penalty is an administrative punishment ordering that any NCAA penalties imposed on a coach found to have committed major rules violations will stay in effect against that coach fo ...
on Tyndall, to run until April 7, 2026–at the time, tied for the longest ever imposed on a head coach. This means that any NCAA member school that wants to hire him during this period will have to "show cause" for why it shouldn't be sanctioned for doing so, and could incur severe penalties if he commits another violation during this time. It also stipulates that any penalties imposed on Tyndall will follow him to any NCAA member school if he is ever hired again.
According to the NCAA, Tyndall told his assistants to complete papers for players, and also arranged payments to players and tried to cover them up. The NCAA deemed Tyndall's violations to be as egregious as those committed by Dave Bliss
David Gregory Bliss (born September 20, 1943) is an American basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at University of Oklahoma, Southern Methodist University, the University of New Mexico, Baylor University, and Southwester ...
at Baylor 16 years earlier; at the time, Bliss was the only other head coach to be slapped with a show-cause lasting 10 or more years. The NCAA added two unprecedented stipulations to Tyndall's show-cause. It required any NCAA member school who hires Tyndall during his show-cause to suspend him from coaching duties–effectively banning him from coaching at any NCAA member school until the end of the 2025–26 season. This was very unusual since Tyndall would have likely found it difficult to return to the collegiate ranks in any event while his show-cause was in effect. A show-cause usually has the effect of blackballing a coach from the collegiate ranks at least for the duration of the show-cause; most schools will not even consider hiring a coach with such a severe penalty on his record. The NCAA also decreed that if Tyndall ever coaches again at an NCAA member school after the show-cause runs out, he must sit out the first half of the first season of his return. However, it is very difficult for a head coach to return to the collegiate ranks even after a show-cause expires; only four have ever done so.
''USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' called Tyndall's show-cause the most severe penalty that the NCAA has ever meted out to a head coach.
As a professional coach
On November 4, 2016, Tyndall was hired by the Toronto Raptors to be an assistant coach on their development team, Raptors 905
The Raptors 905 are a Canadian professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Mississauga, Ontario, and are affiliated with the Toronto Raptors. Raptors 905 began play in the 2015–16 season and play their home games at Paramount Fi ...
. Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey
Dwane Lyndon Casey (born April 17, 1957) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a former NCAA basketball player and coach, having played and coached there ...
was fired in May 2018 and was then hired as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons; Tyndall then took an assistant coaching role with Grand Rapids Drive
The Grand Rapids Gold are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and are affiliated with the Denver Nuggets. The Gold play their home games at Van Andel Arena. They began play as the Anaheim ...
, the development team for the Pistons. After one season, he was promoted to head coach of the Drive for the 2019–20 season.
Return to College
On June 17, Tyndall was hired by Chipola College
Chipola College is a public college in Marianna, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System.
History
The school was founded in 1947 as Chipola Junior College; its name was changed in 2003 after the college developed several bachelor's ...
as the head men’s basketball coach. Tyndall replaced Brendan Foley who became an assistant at Buffalo.
Head coaching record
Junior college
College
Southern Miss's original records were 27–10 (12–4, 2nd in C-USA) in 2012–13 and 29–7 (13–3, 1st in C-USA) in 2013–14. However, all 56 wins from those seasons were vacated by the NCAA due to participation of academically ineligible players.
References
External links
Tennessee Volunteers bio
Morehead State Eagles bio
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders bio
Idaho Vandals bio
LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyndall, Donnie
1970 births
Living people
American men's basketball coaches
Basketball coaches from Michigan
Basketball players from Grand Rapids, Michigan
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Idaho Vandals men's basketball coaches
Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States
Junior college men's basketball players in the United States
LSU Tigers basketball coaches
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball coaches
Morehead State Eagles men's basketball coaches
Morehead State Eagles men's basketball players
NCAA sanctions
People from Muskegon County, Michigan
Raptors 905 coaches
Southern Miss Golden Eagles basketball coaches
Sportspeople from Grand Rapids, Michigan
Tennessee Volunteers basketball coaches