Jan 29, 2016 12:39 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Former Southern Miss men's basketball coach Donnie Tyndall and other program officials appeared at a hearing before the NCAA's infractions committee last week.

Citing unnamed sources, Yahoo Sports reported the hearing lasted about 12 hours and centered on alleged rules violations committed during Tyndall's tenure. The NCAA is expected to issue sanctions for the program by April 1.

Tyndall became Southern Miss' head coach in 2012 and left in 2014 to become the head coach at Tennessee. But after one season, Tennessee fired Tyndall when the NCAA was readying its Notice of Allegations for the coach and the Southern Miss program, indicating Tyndall lied to officials during the hiring process.

The NCAA outlined multiple Level One violations against Tyndall and Southern this past July, mainly academic fraud, impermissible benefits, and lack of coach control, The Associated Press reported at the time. The NCAA blamed most of the violations on Tyndall and his staff, notably leaving out the "lack of institutional control" charge that carries more hefty sanctions.

Joining Tyndall at the hearing, which took place Jan. 21, was his former assistant Adam Howard, as well as Southern Miss president Rodney Bennett and athletic director Bill McGillis, Yahoo Sports noted. Tyndall reportedly argued Howard carried out the alleged academic fraud and some of the other charges without his awareness.

As The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported in July, Tyndall was implicated in the NCAA's investigation as actively committing certain instances of academic fraud, like deleting incriminating emails, falsifying his players' grades, and lying to investigators.

Southern Miss already banned itself from the postseason last year and this year, but it did not affect the program much, as they were 9-20 last season and are 6-12 this season.

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