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Tennessee basketball: JuCo school hires Donny Tyndall

By Caleb Calhoun

ANNAPOLIS, MD - NOVEMBER 14: Head coach Donnie Tyndall of the Tennessee Volunteers speaks to a referee during the second half at the Alumni Hall on November 14, 2014 in Annapolis, Maryland. Virginia Commonwealth Rams defeated Tennessee Volunteers 85-69. (Photo by Tommy Gilligan/Getty Images)
ANNAPOLIS, MD - NOVEMBER 14: Head coach Donnie Tyndall of the Tennessee Volunteers speaks to a referee during the second half at the Alumni Hall on November 14, 2014 in Annapolis, Maryland. Virginia Commonwealth Rams defeated Tennessee Volunteers 85-69. (Photo by Tommy Gilligan/Getty Images) /
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The former Tennessee basketball Volunteers head coach is headed to Chipola, a Florida junior college.

It has been over five years since Donnie Tyndall was fired after just one season as head coach of the Tennessee basketball program and over three years since he received his 10-year show-cause from the NCAA. However, he has found his way back to becoming a college coach anyway.

Tyndall will take over as head coach of Chipola College in Marianna, Fla., a town in Jackson County on the state’s panhandle. His hire was first reported by WJHG, a local television station in Panama City, Fla. It has since been confirmed by WMMB, another local station there, and by The Dothan Eagle, an Alabama newspaper in Dothan, Ala., less than 40 miles north of Marianna.

Because Chipola College is a junior college and part of the NJCAA, Tyndall’s show-cause won’t apply. He replaces Brendan Foley, who left to become an assistant coach with the Buffalo Bulls. This is his first college coaching gig since he was with Tennessee basketball.

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Over the past four years, Tyndall has been working in the NBA developmental ranks. He spent two years in Ontario, Canada with as an assistant with the Raptors 905, part of the NBA G-League, and then he went to Michigan to join another G-League team, the Grand Rapids Drive in Walker, Mich., as an assistant for a year. Last year, he was the head coach for Grand Rapids.

In 2014, Dave Hart hired Tyndall to replace Cuonzo Martin. He was a rising star after two years with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, winning the Conference USA regular season title in 2013-2014, and six years with his alma mater, the Morehead State Eagles, where he made two NCAA Tournaments and reached the second round in 2010-2011.

After one year with Tennessee basketball in which he went 16-16, Tyndall was fired due to his connections to major violations from when he was at Southern Miss, including improper financial aid and academic fraud. That is what resulted in the 10-year show-cause, the harshest penalty in NCAA history. Hart hired Rick Barnes to replace Tyndall, and he’s been with the Vols ever since.

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Tyndall’s show-cause, meanwhile, won’t be lifted until the end of the 2025-2026 season. He does have junior college experience, as a head coach at the now-closed St. Catharine College in Sringfield, Ky. and as a player at Iowa Central Community College, where he was at before transferring to Morehead State. So he’ll have a good understanding of his new role.

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