SAN ANTONIO – Former Texas State point guard Jaylen Shead has detailed alleged racists remarks and incidents involving head coach Danny Kaspar.
Shead was a student-athlete at Texas State and a starter for the men’s basketball team during the 2018-19 season.
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To the surprise of many, Shead transferred that summer after a successful regular season and two years on campus.
In a series of tweets Thursday, Shead publicly explained his reasoning for leaving the program.
“I could overlook the way coach Kaspar treated the players in most regards. I could overlook the lies he fed us to get us there and keep us there. I could overlook the way he disregarded the rules and our health. But I could not turn away from the many racially insensitive things that were said to me and other teammates,” Shead wrote.
With all this going on, let’s talk about what I and other players dealt w playing 🏀 for Danny Kaspar at Texas State. Many asked why the starting PG on a 25 win, 1st place contender team would transfer before his senior szn.. well👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/Du2VSSOKMl
— JaylenShead™️ (@thejayyshead) June 4, 2020
He continued by posting, “I had never seen someone abuse their power in such a way before, especially someone who claimed he “cared about us.”’
Shead described several instances of what he witnessed during practice and with other teammates.
He alleged that Kaspar used racially insensitive remarks during drills and referred to several black stereotypes during team meetings.
“As one of my teammates was running ‘suicides,' he told him to “chase that chicken” as “encouragement” to speed up,” Shead posted.
He also wrote that if Kaspar heard black players on the team saying the N-word in the hallway, he would tell them, “If y’all say the N-word that means I can say it.”
Shead wrote that Kaspar also suggested he would have a European player deported if he continued to make mistakes at practice.
Alex Peacock, a former member of the men’s basketball team and teammate of Shead’s, posted on Twitter “I stand with my boy Jaylen and everything he says 100 percent.”
Peacock spoke to ESPN about his experience at Texas State and echoed what Shead posted on Twitter.
"There is no embellishment in what he said," Peacock said.
KTSW Sports reached out to another former player, Deris Duncan, who said Kaspar was not a racist.
Duncan said Kaspar invited players who had no place to go for Thanksgiving to his house, and said his wife made specialty birthday desserts for players throughout the season.
“He invited me and my wife this past Thanksgiving as well as others,” Duncan told KTSW Sports. “A racist would not allow a whole team of black men over to his house.”
#TXST AD Larry Teis says university has launched formal investigation into allegations that men's basketball coach Danny Kaspar made racially biased comments to players.
— RJ Marquez (@KSATRJ) June 5, 2020
The allegations were initially made by former PG Jaylen Shead. More have come forward. #KSATnews #KSATsports pic.twitter.com/DY5m1ySh1z
Texas State Athletic Director Larry Teis issued a statement that said the university had launched a formal investigation into the allegations.
“I personally find these allegations deeply troubling. I, and the entire Department of Athletics staff, take the concerns expressed by our former student-athletes very seriously. At my request, the university has launched a formal investigation through the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX. It is our top priority to fully cooperate with the investigation. 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.”
Kaspar took over at Texas State in 2013 after 13 seasons as the head coach at Stephen F. Austin and nine as the head coach at Incarnate Word in San Antonio.