Texas State coach Danny Kaspar resigns amid accusations of racism

Texas State men’s basketball coach Danny Kaspar resigned on Tuesday, the university announced.

The news comes about three months after Kaspar was accused in a series of tweets from former player Jaylen Shead of making racist comments. Texas State launched an official investigation shortly thereafter and athletic director Larry Teis called the allegations “deeply troubling.”

The athletic department did not release any further details about the investigation, but Teis did say on Tuesday that assistant coach Terrance Johnson will coach the team in 2020-21. Johnson’s peers voted him one of the best assistants in the conference, according to Jeff Goodman’s poll at Stadium Sports.

Expect additional moves to be made as Johnson rounds out his staff. As of now, Kaspar is still listed as the head coach on the Texas State athletics site, but Johnson and Robert Guster are the only two assistants and the expected start of the preseason is just weeks away.

Over seven seasons at Texas State, Kaspar’s teams went 119-109 and played in the CIT twice. He had previously led Stephen F. Austin to the NCAA Tournament once and NIT twice.

Texas State went 21-11 last year and advanced to the Sun Belt semifinals before the remainder of the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forward Isiah Small, who started all 31 games he played in last year, reacted to Kaspar’s resignation on Twitter:

Kaspar’s resignation comes during a period of racial reckoning in the United States. As universities nationwide have tried to do their part to root out systemic racism in their communities, Texas State announced earlier this month that it would create a Committee on Racial Equality. The goal of the committee, staffed by players, coaches, and administrators, is to:

Explore initiatives to strengthen education and development opportunities, promote voter registration and voting, and engage with the community regarding policing and relations.

Johnson is a member of CORE along with men’s basketball players Quentin Scott and Alonzo Sule.