Donnie Tyndall admits violations occurred while he ran the basketball program at Southern Miss between 2012 and 2014. The former Southern Miss head coach, who was coaching the Tennessee Volunteers when the allegations caught up with him and got him fired, believes the NCAA has treated him unfairly. The violations that happened under his watch, Tyndall contends, were like those that occurred at Syracuse and SMU under Hall of Fame coaches Jim Boeheim and Larry Brown. Tyndall says his punishment should have been more like the ones those coaches received. (Boeheim lost a postseason and nine games; Tyndall got a ten-year suspension.)
Tyndall’s case is under appeal. The coach believes he has some formidable numbers on his side. Talking with 60 Minutes Sports’ Armen Keteyian, Tyndall cited the NCAA case directly saying: “The NCAA record is 40 people saying I had absolutely nothing to do with it and one person saying that I did.” The “it” references the academic fraud that took place at the university — something Tyndall now acknowledges but says he didn’t know about. The “one person” — as opposed to the 40 — is Tyndall’s former assistant Adam Howard, who changed his story and implicated Tyndall after repeatedly denying knowledge of the coach’s involvement. Tyndall is banking on those 40-to-1 odds to help in his appeal. 60 Minutes Sports airs Tuesdays at 8:00 PM on SHO.
