Dave Hart acknowledges hiring Donnie Tyndall was a 'mistake'

Tennessee's Josh Richardson is greeted by coach Donnie Tyndall during an NCAA college basketball game against South Carolina on Saturday, March 7, 2015, in Knoxville.

KNOXVILLE -- Dave Hart again defended the vetting process in the coaching search that produced the hire of Donnie Tyndall, but Tennessee's athletic director also owned up to the mistake of tabbing a coach whom the Volunteers fired Friday amid an NCAA investigation into his former program.

After gleaning from a conversation with NCAA officials on Thursday that it was "highly likely" the NCAA would charge Tyndall with major violations stemming from an investigation into academic misconduct and impermissible financial aid at Southern Mississippi, Tennessee fired Tyndall after just one season.

During a news conference late Friday morning, Hart acknowledged in hindsight that hiring Tyndall, who had a prior run-in with the NCAA while at Morehead State, was a mistake despite what he thought was a standard search process.

"I think we vetted that very well," he said. "It was very similar to any search I've ever been involved in in terms of the vetting. When we vet a candidate, we talk to key people on the campus, the athletics director, the president, the compliance people.

"We vet, also, within the industry, people that know the candidate, people that have either worked for or coached against or know the candidate. We vet it with the NCAA. We say, 'Are there any issues at the institution that this individual is working at.'

"We knew about Morehead State. We read the report. We talked to Morehead State. The president had nothing but very, very gracious and kind and positive things to say about Donnie, as did Southern Miss, his prior institution. We vetted that in a standard process.

"Knowing what I know now, was that a mistake? Probably. That's a fair assessment."

Tyndall's firing means the Vols will have a third basketball coach in as many seasons.

Tennessee men's basketball coach Donnie Tyndall, right, is hugged by athletic director Dave Hart during a news conference Tuesday in Knoxville. The former Southern Mississippi coach succeeds Cuonzo Martin, who resigned last week to take the head job at California.

"It's gotten old," he said of Tennessee entering another coaching change. "Now we've stabilized in several areas, but then here we go again in a key transition. I understand that frustration and the feelings that are out there."

Hart was asked who ultimately should bear the responsibility for the situation.

"I do," he said bluntly. "Just as I bear responsibility for any and all hires that I've ever made. I'm proud of my track record in that regard, but I'm certainly not perfect. I've yet to meet that man or woman who is.

"That anger, that frustration, that disappointment that is being felt,believe me, I feel those emotions," he added.

After finalizing the decision that a change was needed late Thursday night, Hart, who said he got an hour and a half sleep Thursday night, met with Tyndall at 7 a.m. Friday morning and then with the team.

"One of the things we have strived for is to get stability, and we had hoped when we hired Donnie we would have that element in our men's basketball program," Hart said. "That is not how it has panned out as we stand here today. Having said that, this decision was the right decision for the University of Tennessee."

Hart admitted he thought Tyndall had learned from his NCAA transgression at Morehead State. That investigation stemmed from illegal activity by a booster. Tyndall faced failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance and failure to monitor charges.

"Was that a risk worth taking? Not standing here today, it wasn't," Hart said.

Unlike the search processes that led to the hire of Tennessee football coach Butch Jones and Tyndall, Tennessee will use a search firm to aid in its search for Tyndall's replacement.

It's something Hart's never done in his long career as an athletic director, but he insisted it wasn't a reactionary decision after last year's search ended as it did.

"It's a very fair thing to ask," Hart said. "A search firm is not going to identify a candidate that we haven't already identified. That's just not going to happen.

"A search firm is not going to produce any different background search results than the background search results that we can establish and get through various means.

"A search firm would not have known what was going on at Southern Miss. Southern Miss didn't know. But what they can do is they can help with the confidentiality aspect."

Hart said Tennessee would not consider any coaching candidates with documented NCAA baggage.

Here are some other highlights of Hart's 40-minute news conference.

*Assistant coach Al Pinkins will handle the interim coaching duties during the coaching role.

*Hart said current players and signees asking for releases from their scholarships or letter of intent will be handled on a "case-by-case" basis. In Tennessee's transition from Cuonzo Martin to Tyndall last year, the Vols lost all four signees and had three players transfer out of the program.

*The time frame for hiring Tyndall's replacement is a "moving target," Hart said. The annual coaches' convention is at the Final Four next weekend in Indianapolis.

*Tennessee is on pace for a record year financially, according to Hart. "We have a good chance to raise more money that we've ever raised in a single year," he said.

*Hart declined to go into details regarding his Friday morning meeting with Tyndall, but he said the coach handled it "professionally."

*Based on recent conversations, Tennessee is "not at risk," Hart said, for any potential NCAA penalties stemming from Tyndall's tenure.

More on this story as it develops and in Saturday's Times Free Press.