Tennessee Basketball's Donnie Tyndall Working Wonders in Knoxville

Not much was expected of the 2014-15 Tennessee Volunteers. Former head coach Cuonzo Martin made a lateral move and left to coach the California Bears after last season. Seemingly all of the talented players that carried the Vols to last season’s Sweet 16 had departed. And the talented recruiting class fell apart after Martin announced his departure.

Tennessee fans had been hoping that they could bring back Bruce Pearl, who led the Vols to six straight NCAA Tournaments, including an appearance in the Elite Eight in 2010. However, Pearl was already coaching again, having been named the head man of the Auburn Tigers. So the Tennessee administration had to look elsewhere.

The Vols settled for a coach named Donnie Tyndall, and it now appears that Tennessee may have gotten the better end of the deal. Tyndall, who had a great deal of success as a head coach at Morehead State and Southern Miss, was given the task of rebuilding the Tennessee program.

Tyndall hit the ground running, and he was forced to do so. He had only four letter winners returning, so he had to work to assemble a team. Tyndall signed high school players, junior college transfers and a couple of transfers from other schools to fill out his roster.

Still, it appeared that the Vols would be young and at least a year away from competing in the SEC. The Vols were picked 13th out of 14 SEC teams in the preseason rankings. What those voters didn’t know is that Tyndall is a masterful coach who can take less talented teams and still come away with a victory.

Tyndall and the Vols got off to a slow start this season, going 4-4 in their first eight games. Since then, however, Tennessee has won seven of its last eight, including three of its four SEC games, to move to 11-5 overall and 3-1 in the league. That includes a 74-69 upset of the then-19th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks last week in Knoxville.

Like everyone else in the league, the Vols are looking up at the Kentucky Wildcats, who may be the best team in the country. But the scramble for second place in the conference appears to be wide open, and Tennessee could find itself in the mix.

To this point in the season, there is very little doubt that Donnie Tyndall is the SEC Coach of the Year. And depending on how the rest of the season goes, he may run away with it.

Tim Letcher is a contributing writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.