Munz: Details of NCAA probe of USM alarming

The basics of the NCAA’s investigation of Southern Miss and its former men’s basketball coach Donnie Tyndall should come as no surprise to anyone.

The specifics, however, are a whole other story.

For months — rapidly approaching a year now — information was slowly leaked here and there to national college basketball writers. So we found out in early November 2014 that Southern Miss and Tyndall, who at that time was the coach at Tennessee, were in the NCAA’s crosshairs in early November 2014.

Shortly thereafter, an assistant coach and a staff member of Tyndall’s at Tennessee (who also worked for him at Southern Miss and Morehead State) abruptly resigned. Then came Southern Miss’ decision to punish itself, rather than waiting for the NCAA to do it, by self-imposing a postseason ban in Doc Sadler’s first season as head coach of the Golden Eagles.

Southern Miss dismissed two players (Jeremiah Eason and Rasham Suarez) in January when the NCAA apparently presented the university with enough evidence of academic impropriety that the administration had no choice. It was also reported Tyndall, during his time at Southern Miss, provided financial assistance to several non-qualifiers (i.e. student-athletes not yet eligible to receive financial assistance from anyone other than a parent, guardian or high school/prep school coach). Reports identified those student-athletes who allegedly received money from Tyndall as Matt Bingaya and Shadell Millinghaus, both of whom transferred out of Southern Miss after the 2014-15 season.

That much we knew. But what we didn’t know were the specifics behind the alleged misdeeds, which we learned from the NCAA’s 43-page document.

Here are some of the highlights:

•At Tyndall’s direction, two former members of the Southern Miss men’s basketball staff completed coursework for seven prospective players sometime during Tyndall’s tenure (2012-14) with the Golden Eagles. Five of those players ended up playing for Southern Miss.

•The NCAA alleges that two former assistant coaches traveled to states where prospective student-athletes were in order to complete online coursework for them. One former assistant coach interviewed by the NCAA said this was done “so that IP address information would make it appear as though the prospects had completed the coursework themselves.” The same assistant told the NCAA Tyndall hired two former staff members simply “for the purpose of engaging in academic misconduct.”

•Last month, a forensic document examiner concluded “it is probable the assignments submitted in the Adams State math courses on behalf of” five unnamed prospective student-athletes “contained material from the same writer.”

•A former assistant coach told the NCAA Tyndall provided one non-qualifier student-athlete cash and prepaid cards that totaled $6,314.14. He also said Tyndall provided another non-qualifier student-athlete $2,198.25 worth of cash and prepaid cards. Both players told the NCAA they received these payments through the men’s basketball office. On Nov. 7, 2014, one athlete’s former high school coach told the NCAA he sent “around $4,000 to $5,000 in cash and prepaid debit cards to the men’s basketball office.” On Nov. 4, 2014, the other athlete’s former high school head coach told the NCAA he also “sent around $4,000 in prepaid debit cards to the men’s basketball office.” Records show Tyndall stayed in contact with the student-athletes’ former high school coaches via a cell phone maintained in his mother’s name both before and after they were interviewed by the NCAA. The former assistant told the NCAA Tyndall talked with both players’ former high school coaches “using burner phones as well as a cell phone maintained in his mother’s name and told them to stick to the story that they had paid for” their former players’ years of residence.

It goes on from there. And on. And on.

One question that immediately comes to mind while poring over the copious amounts of information: When did Tyndall or anyone on his staff at Southern Miss have time for actual basketball?

The bottom line is the NCAA believes, and appears to have plenty of evidence, Tyndall frequently and repeatedly broke some serious rules during his two years in Hattiesburg. Though the NCAA does not seem poised to throw the book at Southern Miss, which might escape the dreaded “lack of institutional control” and “failure to monitor the program” charges, it doesn’t look like the university will get off Scott-free.

The notice of allegations lists five “aggravating factors” against the university, including “multiple Level I violations by the institution,” “a history of Level I, II or major violations by the institution,” and “one or more violations caused significant ineligibility or other substantial harm to a men’s basketball student-athlete or prospective student-athlete.”

But the NCAA also lists a number of “mitigating factors,” including “prompt acknowledgment of the violation, acceptance of responsibility and imposition of meaningful and corrective actions and/or penalties,” that should play in Southern Miss’ favor.

The other parties involved, including Tyndall, have no mitigating factors listed.

Tyndall appears ready and willing to fight the NCAA’s allegations, which is his right. He issued a statement to the Hattiesburg American on Friday in which he denied intentionally violating NCAA rules.

Those listed in the report have 90 days to respond. It won’t end there. In fact, Southern Miss athletic director Bill McGillis sent an email to supporters saying the end of the ordeal likely won’t come before the spring of next year.

Southern Miss could end up vacating wins that came during Tyndall’s tenure. It also might have to give up some scholarships.

But Tyndall will, in all likelihood, face the brunt of the NCAA’s wrath. The 45-year-old was also charged with violations during his time as Morehead State’s head coach. That along with the amount and seriousness of the alleged violations means Tyndall could wind up getting one of the most severe show-cause penalties in NCAA history.

A show-cause order essentially means that any NCAA penalties imposed on an individual coach will stick with him for a designated period of time and could be transferred to another school that hires the coach before the order expires.

Former Minnesota coach Clem Haskins was hit with a seven-year show-cause penalty for paying a tutor to write papers for his players. He lied to NCAA investigators about it and encouraged others to lie to the NCAA as well.

Former Baylor head coach Dave Bliss got caught up in a murder scandal in 2003 that resulted in a 10-year show-cause penalty for him.

Contact sports writer Jason Munz at 584-3107. Also, follow @munzly on Twitter.