Bio

Donnie Tyndall is enterning his fifth season as head coach of Chipola College men’s basketball team.

Coach Tyndall has won the Panhandle Conference all four seasons and, for his efforts, been named the Panhandle Conference Coach of the Year in each of those seasons. The 2023-24 season marked the first in Coach Tyndall's tenure where the Indians stood alone atop the conference standings, after sharing the title in his first three years.

In 2023-2024, the Indians won the College's 18th FCSAA/Region VIII Championship by defeating Northwest Florida State, 50-48, on their home floor. Chipola defeated Indian River State College, 83-80, in the Quarterfinals then took out Tallahassee, 73-68, in the Semifinals. For the third time in four seasons, Coach Tyndall was named the FCSAA/Region VIII Coach of the Year.

After the State Tournament win, Coach Tyndall led the team to their fourth consecutive appearance in the NJCAA Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas. Prior to the current run, Chipola had only made three consecutive appearances (2007-2009). Chipola has lost in the second round the last two seasons but prior to that, the Indians advanced to the semifinals of the Tournament. Coach Tyndall has an overall 5-4 record in NJCAA D1 Tournament games.

In four seasons at the helm, Tyndall has led Chipola to an 111-21 record, including a 62-3 record in the Milton H. Johnson Center. Over the four-year span, twenty-two players have moved on to NCAA Division One schools.

Tyndall has a Division 1 and NBA pedigree having served as head coach at the University of Tennessee, University of Southern Mississippi, Morehead State University, and for the Detroit Pistons D-League developmental team.  Tyndall also served in assistant coaching roles at LSU, Idaho, Middle Tennessee and for the Toronto Raptors 905 team.  

Tyndall started his head coaching career (1996-97) at St. Catherine College, a Kentucky JUCO, where he went 30-5 en route to the school’s first NJCAA Tournament appearance. 

From 2006-2012, he led D-1 Morehead State to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament (2011), an OVC Conference Championship and three straight 20-win seasons. 

At Southern Mississippi (2012-2014), he led the Golden Eagles to a Conference USA Co-Championship (2014) and recorded the highest attendance in 20 years. He served for one year as head coach at the University of Tennessee (2015). 

In 2016, Tyndall was hired by the NBA’s Toronto Raptors organization as an assistant coach for their Raptors 905 developmental team. He served as an assistant coach with the developmental team for the Grand Rapids Drive of the Detroit Pistons and was promoted to their head coach for the 2019-20 season. 

A native of Grand Rapids, Mich., Tyndall graduated from Northview High School and played one season of junior-college basketball in Fort Dodge, Iowa, before transferring to Morehead State to join its basketball team from 1990-93. He earned his bachelor’s degree from MSU in 1993.

Tyndall later received his master’s degree from LSU in 2000.

He has two daughters, Taylor and Grace.