Texas State basketball coach Kaspar resigns.
Texas State men’s basketball coach Danny Kaspar has resigned, the program announced Tuesday.
The school did not specify a reason for Kaspar’s decision and “will not be making any additional statements,” per Texas State’s release.
In June, Texas State opened an investigation into Kaspar through the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX after former players accused him of making racially insensitive comments. The school never publicly updated the status of the investigation.
Terrence Johnson, an assistant at Texas State for the past five years, will step in as head coach for the 202021 season, the program said in a release.
Former Texas State point guard Jaylen Shead, who redshirted with the Bobcats in 2017-18 and started in 2018-19 before transferring to Washington State for his final year of eligibility, tweeted in June three screenshots detailing what he called a “shocking” experience and an abuse of power by Kaspar.
“I personally find these allegations deeply troubling,” Texas State athletic director Larry Teis said in a statement following Shead’s post. “The Department of Athletics is committed to strengthening our university culture that values and supports diversity, equity and inclusion for our student-athletes, staff, and community.”
Alex Peacock, who played for the Bobcats from 2017-19, was among a group of at least three former Texas State players to retweet Shead’s post. Others, including former Bobcats player Deris Duncan and a group of players Kaspar coached during his tenure at Stephen F. Austin, stepped forward to defend Kaspar.
Texas State senior forward Isiah Small retweeted news of Kaspar’s resignation Tuesday and wrote, “no more questions about the situation .... here’s y’all answer.”
Shead said Kaspar pushed players to run faster during practice by telling them to “chase that chicken.” When Shead was ahead of the other Bobcats, Kaspar said he was “running like the cops are behind him,” according to Shead.
When players were not moving as fast as Kaspar wanted during a drill, he told them, “if a brown man with a (turban) and AK-47 walked in, I bet y’all would run as fast as you could,” Shead wrote.
Kaspar also threatened to have a European player deported and suggested he could use a racial slur because he heard the players using it, Shead wrote.
Kaspar became the coach at Texas State in 2013 after 13 years at SFA and nine seasons at Incarnate Word.
His 119 career wins rank third in Texas State men’s basketball history.