Southern Miss tabs Tyndall to lead men’s basketball program

Former Morehead State coach will guide Golden Eagles

Following a successful six-year stint as head coach at his alma mater Morehead State, Donnie Tyndall is headed to Hattiesburg where he will take over as the next head coach of Southern Miss.

Tyndall, who will be 42 in June, went 114-84 during his time with the Eagles and improved the win total every season until this year. After posting a 12-18 mark in his initial campaign, he went 15-15 in year two. Then, the 2008-09 brought a 20-16 record and OVC Tournament title that resulted in an appearance in the Big Dance. The Eagles improved to 24-11 in the ’09-’10 season and went to the CBI. After consecutive 20-plus win campaigns and postseason berths, MSU compiled a stellar 25-10 mark in 2010-11 during which the Eagles eliminated Louisville in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the round of 32. This season, Tyndall and company tallied a fifth straight winning record by finishing 18-14.

Prior to taking over at Morehead State, he had been an associate head coach at Middle Tennessee State (’02-’06) and Idaho (’01-’02). He had also been an assistant at LSU (’97-’01) and a junior college head coach at St. Catharine College (’96-’97).

Tyndall will inherit a Southern Miss program that Larry Eustachy, who left for Colorado State, led to a 25-9 mark and its first NCAA trip in over two decades this past season. Overall, Eustachy went 142-113 in eight seasons in Hattiesburg.

However, that club featured five seniors, which produced over 50 percent of the team’s scoring. Darnell Dodson, Maurice Bolden, and Angelo Johnson all averaged at least 9.5 points.

The Golden Eagles will resemble Louisville, as they will employ an up-tempo, aggressive style of attacking basketball.