Donnie Tyndall

The Donnie Tyndall hire and fire is yet another mishap for Tennessee's athletic department. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

Donnie Tyndall's unceremonious dismissal is the latest example of what has been a consistent state of upheaval in Knoxville.

Since 2005, Tennessee has employed five different football coaches (Jim Chaney was an interim), four different basketball coaches and three baseball coaches. Tyndall lasted a single year at Tennessee before being dismissed Friday for alleged NCAA violations he committed while at Southern Miss.

Tyndall is one of three recent Tennessee coaches -- Bruce Pearl and Lane Kiffin are the others -- to get in trouble with the NCAA. Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart claimed Friday that the school had no way of knowing about the possible violations Tyndall committed at USM, but Tyndall had run-ins with the NCAA before his time in Mississippi.

In 2010, Tyndall faced NCAA sanctions while at Morehead State for a booster reportedly offering improper benefits to recruits. Hart knew Tyndall wasn't squeaky clean when he hired him.

Tyndall is part of a series of bad hires and missteps that have turned what was once a behemoth into the most unstable athletic department in the SEC.

These missteps have come with financial consequences. The school paid nearly $8 million to make Derek Dooley and his staff go away. At one point UT was paying buyouts to Pearl, former football coach Phil Fulmer, former baseball coach Todd Raleigh and former athletic director Mike Hamilton all at the same time.

In 2013, Sports Business Daily reported the athletic department had more than $200 million in debt. That's a remarkable figure given Neyland Stadium should be a money-printing machine, but rising costs and bad football teams put the athletic department in a precarious position. It has also hamstrung the school's ability to attract top candidates given salary limitations.

The blame doesn't all fall on Dave Hart, who has been UT's athletic director since 2011, but he doesn't appear to be a popular person in Knoxville today. Hamilton was in charge of the ship as it hit a financial iceberg, but Hart's handling of the situation has left a lot to be desired.

Hart has guided UT through two major coaching searches and the school was seemingly rejected by multiple top targets. Even Louisiana Tech basketball coach Michael White, who has never guided the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament, said no to Hart before UT eventually settled on Southern Miss' Tyndall. When Hart replaced Dooley, he swung and missed badly on a few top targets like Charlie Strong and Mike Gundy -- not even counting the ridiculous Jon Gruden speculation. Butch Jones has proven himself as an able recruiter during his two years at the helm, but there's no denying he wasn't close to Hart's first pick.

What should be two of the more attractive jobs in the SEC have depreciated in value. It is clear that coaches were already wary about going to UT given the athletic department's woes. With the latest mess involving Tyndall, that could become an even more pronounced issue.

The one positive about the Tyndall situation is that he was fired with cause, which means the school won't have to pick up his hefty $3 million buyout. But the bad news is that the school still isn't in good financial standing and doesn't appear able -- or willing -- to throw major money at a basketball coach the way Alabama appears eager to do.

If Tennessee can ever get back on the rails, there's no doubting that it can be a major player in the SEC in both football and basketball. But as things stand now, it could take years to get back to that point.