The University of Tennessee fired men’s basketball coach Donnie Tyndall on Friday.
The firing is a result of Tyndall being investigated for NCAA violations. Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart said that the school wouldn’t have hired Tyndall if they knew about his unethical conduct at Southern Miss. Tyndalll is being investigated for violations which occurred while he was coaching at Southern Miss, from 2012 to 2014. The violations are focused on financial aid given to nonqualified academic student-athletes who sat out a season, and academic issues related to junior college transfers. Tyndall will most likely be suspended for the 2015-16 season, but the suspension could be for the 2016-17 season as well since the investigation is still pending at Southern Miss, according to ESPN. Hart sad that Tyndall acknowledged that he deleted emails that could have been relevant to the investigation in his termination letter. Hart also said that it’s highly likely that the NCAA will determine that Tyndall didn’t cooperate and failed to disclose "material information concerning violations of NCAA rules" during the hiring process at Tennessee.
''In the past months, I learned that violations of NCAA rules occurred in the Southern Miss men's basketball program when I was that program's head coach. That surprised and disappointed me,'' Tyndall said in a statement. ''During my time at Southern Miss, I believed that our program followed NCAA rules and worked well with the university's administration to maintain an atmosphere of rules compliance. NCAA rules prevent me from being more specific. However, as the head coach at that time, I accept ultimate responsibility for violations that occurred. While at Tennessee, I cooperated with the NCAA investigation process, and I will continue to do so.”
Tyndall went on to apologize to his players, assistant coaches, and the entire University of Tennessee community.
Tyndall became the coach at Tennessee last year. He was 16-6 in his only season at the school, according to the Associated Press. Tennessee will now be looking for their third coach in three years, and their fourth coach in six years.
Tyndall’s contract with Tennessee allows the school to fire him if he is found to have committed a NCAA Level I or Level II violation ''whether the conduct occurred during (Tyndall's) employment with the university or another NCAA-member institution.''