Buds Ray, Tyndall meet for 1st time as head coaches

For Rick Ray and Donnie Tyndall, nothing kept their friendship together like a nice pair of shoes — or about 250 of them.

The Southeastern Conference coaches crossed paths in Iowa about 20 years ago at small schools. Tonight, they meet again for the first time as head coaches as Ray leads Mississippi State and Tyndall brings Tennessee to Humphrey Coliseum.

"Me and DT go way back. He's a guy that I got acquainted with," Ray said. "I was fascinated with his shoe collection. He has an unbelievable shoe collection."

Ray was a senior at Grand View College in Iowa in 1994. Tyndall began his first year of coaching the same year as an assistant at Iowa Central Community College.

"I didn't remember him back then," Ray said. "Obviously, as a player, you're not paying attention to the opposing team's coaching staff. He said that he recalled the scouting report on me."

Ray admitted he wasn't much of a player. Tyndall's report might be more in-depth this time around.

The duo spent the last two years in Mississippi but never met on the court. In 2012, Tyndall took over at Southern Miss, while Ray was introduced as MSU's head coach.

The friendship began to rekindle as they ran into each other on the recruiting trails.

"Over the years, we kind of laugh and cut up and say things like, 'We've come a long way from those days,'" Tyndall said.

They are now rivals competing in the SEC. In his first year at Tennessee, Tyndall has the Volunteers at 8-4. Tyndall is down to nine scholarship players due to injury and suspensions. Ray can relate. He's had fewer than 10 scholarship players in his first two years at Mississippi State.

Of course, Ray is not feeling bad for him.

"Tell Donnie when he gets down to six or seven scholarship players," Ray said, "then I'll start feeling sympathetic for him."

Mississippi State (7-6) has its own problems. The Bulldogs put to rest a woeful December with its best win of the season, a 62-55 victory over Florida State. It ended a seven-game stretch during which MSU went 1-6.

"We're coming off our best non-conference win of the season. That's a positive thing heading into SEC basketball play," Ray said. "We've got to make sure our guys understand our performance versus Florida State can't be a one-time thing."

There's no better time than to continue that momentum against a familiar face in Tyndall.

"He was an assistant coach at an NAIA school. I was a player at an NAIA school," Ray said. "Now both of us are head coaches in the SEC. It's quite a journey."

Contact Michael Bonner at (601) 961-7289 or mbonner@jackson. gannett.com. Follow @MikeBBonner on Twitter.