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Hart shoulders blame for Tyndall mess Tennessee Vols potential coaching candidates
The tweet appeared on the GoVolsXtra website at 3:18 Friday afternoon.
Wrote Justin Harp concerning the firing of Tennessee basketball coach Donnie Tyndall for alleged NCAA violations his staff committed at Southern Miss: "(UT athletic director) Dave Hart should've never hired him. Name a more dysfunctional athletic department over the past few years than UT."
That's a tough one. Especially in two of the three sports that Volniacs care the most about: football and men's basketball.
The football program has been run by four different head coaches since the start of the 2008 season. With Tyndall gone, the men's basketball program also is about to see its fourth head coach in that time span. And while the Lady Vols are on their second head coach in former assistant Holly Warlick only because the legendary Pat Summitt was forced to retire due to Alzheimer's, it's still been a tough slog, if only because of how much the entire Big Orange Nation cares for Summitt.
Not that most of this is Hart's fault. He wasn't hired until September of 2011. His one can't-fail hire to date, football coach Butch Jones, appears to be a winner.
But Tyndall's another matter. A huge matter. A disturbing matter, given that Hart hired him only 339 days ago. All of which begs the question: Now that Hart has fired Tyndall, should the UT administration strongly consider firing Hart for incompetence?
After all, it wasn't like there weren't warning signs when Hart hired Tyndall away from the Golden Eagles last spring. The coach already had run afoul of NCAA rules as the coach at Morehead State, which was Tyndall's alma mater.
Because Morehead was his first Division I job, Tyndall neatly blamed those violations on a "rogue booster," basically claiming ignorance of the rules. But when you're that sloppy at your alma mater, that should probably be a warning sign to any future employers.
Yet Hart apparently considered none of that when hiring Tyndall. Unexpectedly jilted by Louisiana Tech coach Michael White, the UT AD swiftly hired Tyndall -- much too swiftly, as it turns out.
Because of that, Tennessee is now looking for its third basketball coach in three years, which is no way to win championships, as any supporter of the Vols' football program can tell you from living through the Phillip Fulmer-Lane Kiffin-Derek Dooley run of regret from 2008 through 2010.
This isn't to say Jones has been Hart's only success. The grade point average of UT's student-athletes has risen dramatically over the last two years, a clear sign that UT isn't concerned only with wins and losses. Fundraising also is on the rebound, though Jones probably deserves much of the credit for that.
But just as former UT athletic director Mike Hamilton ultimately was done in by former basketball coach Bruce Pearl's NCAA troubles, Hart can't brush aside Tyndall's issues. In fact, UT's NCAA troubles under Pearl -- which are barely worth mentioning compared to the wrongs Tyndall reportedly committed at Southern Miss, other than Pearl's indefensible act of lying about those charges -- may be the biggest reason to consider forcing Hart's exit.
When you know that your employer has had to deal with NCAA inquiries into football under Lane Kiffin's brief time atop Rocky Top, then Pearl's issues -- and both in the past five years -- and you still go out and hire a guy with a checkered NCAA past, your judgment must be questioned.
Especially when you have to turn around and fire that guy 339 days after you introduced him as the replacement for Cuonzo Martin, the ethically bulletproof coach you basically ran off despite his reaching the Sweet 16.
Defenders of Hart will say Martin wasn't the AD's pick, that he'd been hired by Hamilton. After being wildly entertained for six seasons by Pearl, the fan base grew frustrated by Martin's plodding playing style and quiet demeanor. A major part of Hart's job is to generate revenue for an athletic department budget of $100 million annually. If fans don't buy tickets, however personally honorable the coach, the school loses money.
But nothing costs money and interest and trust more than continually starting over, which is what UT men's basketball program must now do for the second time in two years, both of those restarts begun on Hart's watch.
Or as the AD noted during a Friday news conference: "I am not sure there is anything at the moment that will ease that pain and that frustration (of starting over), to be quite honest. Again, part of the frustration is being driven not only by me, but I am sure by fans in the transition that we talked about. It has gotten old."
It indeed has gotten old. Especially when this latest mulligan need not have happened. Had Hart understood that a men's basketball program still reeling from the impact of NCAA issues not five years old couldn't afford to risk its future on a known cheater.
"It is disappointing that we have to take this action," Hart said in a statement early Friday. "It is highly likely that Coach Tyndall will face significant penalties at the conclusion of the NCAA's infractions process. We believe that this decision is in the best interests of the University of Tennessee."
It may also be time to consider if it might be in the best interest of the University of Tennessee to look for a new AD to fix its dysfunctional athletic department.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.