Punishments handed down to former Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall

Former Southern Mississippi and Tennessee basketball coach Donnie Tyndall has been given a 10-year show-cause penalty for a variation of violations stemming from his time at Southern Miss.

Tyndall was charged with fraudulent academic credit, impermissible financial aid and obstructing the governing body’s investigation.

According to the report, Tyndall acted unethically and directed his staff to engage in academic misconduct. He fabricated a document to justify payments to his student-athletes and tried to elude investigators by deleting emails where he instructed a staff member to adjust the documents so it looked like the university approved the payments.

Southern Miss was also handed a three-year probation period, which will begin in 2017, and a two-year postseason ban.

Tyndall was most recently a head coach at Tennessee and went 16-16 in his one season in Knoxville. He was fired just over a year ago when the university decided that they had reason to believe Tyndall would face significant punishment from the NCAA when officials concluded their investigation into the Southern Miss program.

According to Tyndall’s termination letter, he lied to Tennessee officials several times about the extent of the violations. He has been charged with infractions at every school he’s been a head coach at — Morehead State, Southern Miss and Tennessee.

The 10-year show-cause runs through April 7, 2026, and even if he is employed by then, he must sit out 50 percent of the team’s first season.

Tyndall said that he plans to appeal the show-cause penalty.

Featured image by Cody McClure

Edited by Cody McClure