SAN MARCOS — Texas State will conduct an investigation into charges made by a former men’s basketball player that Bobcats head coach Danny Kaspar has made a series of racially insensitive comments to his team over the years, Bobcats athletic director Larry Teis said Friday.

“I personally find these allegations deeply troubling,” Teis said in a statement. “I, and the entire Department of Athletics staff, take the concerns expressed by our former student-athletes very seriously.”

Former player Jaylen Shead made the allegations against Kaspar on social media Thursday night. Among them, Shead tweeted that if Kaspar had heard a player use the N-word he’d say, “if y’all say the n word that means I can say it.” Shead also tweeted that Kaspar would routinely make jokes to players about race. One time when the players weren’t moving fast during a drill, Shead alleges Kaspar said, “if a Brown man with a turbin and AK-47 walked in, I bet y’all would run as fast as you could.”

In another instance according to Shead, Kaspar once told former player Nedeljko Prijovic, who was from Serbia, “a lot of boosters/alumni here at Txst are Trump supporters. You keep messing up (and) I’ll have you deported.”

“I spent two years at Texas State,” Shead said in the post. “For me the experience was shocking. 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 … These things happened so much on a daily basis, we became numb as it was normal.”

Shead transferred to Texas State from Cal Poly and redshirted the 2017-18 season. He was the Bobcats’ starting point guard for 2018-19 but then transferred to Washington State in the summer of 2019 to play out his final year.

“I chose to leave because I knew I’d eventually say something and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to play anywhere or get a coaching job as I want to one day,” Shead tweeted. “But I am doing a disservice to those that come after.”

A handful of former players came out in support of Shead on Friday, including former teammate Alex Peacock, who was a two-year starting forward from 2017-19.

“Those things that (Shead) said are things that I heard directly,” Peacock told the American-Statesman.

Both Shead and Peacock said they don’t believe that Kaspar is racist, but that his remarks were insensitive. Peacock said he doesn’t think Kaspar should lose his job if he can learn from his mistakes.

“I don’t think there was really any malice behind it; they are just really insensitive comments that I don’t think he knows are really insensitive,” Peacock said. “I don’t think he should be fired if he can change his ways.”

Kaspar did not return a call seeking comment on Friday.

This isn’t the first time Kaspar has been accused of making racially-charged remarks while coaching at Texas State. A 2013 lawsuit filed by former player Basil Brown accused Kaspar, among other things, of making insensitive comments, including once scolding Brown for “taking advantage of a slow white boy” in practice. It also alleged Kaspar gave Brown’s scholarship to a white player because that player “is a slow white boy and I’m not going to fault him for that.”

The lawsuit was eventually dismissed because it was “too speculative,” according to NBC Sports.

The Washington Redskins welcomed wide receiver Paul Richardson with open arms in March, but Richardson says he didn’t receive similar treatment when a Virginia State Police Officer pulled him over and allegedly asked if he was in a gang.

Virginia State Police acknowledge that Richardson was pulled over near the Dulles Toll Road about 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. They say that Richardson’s plates weren’t properly displayed on the car.

Richardson tweeted about his experience: “Just got pulled over by Virginia police offer in a toll lane and before asking my name he asked me if I was in a gang, then minutes later told me he thought I was a dealer (drugs). What a welcome to the east coast. Finished up with asking me how much car cost me.”

The charged questions have prompted concern that Richardson was racially profiled by the Virginia State Police officer, who has not yet been named.

“It represents a level of profiling,” NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith told News4.

The tweet has since been deleted. Richardson tweeted again later, saying the allegations were true but tweeting wasn’t the best way to deal with the issue.

It’s true, but tweeting about it wasn’t the right way to deal.

— Paul Richardson Jr (@prichiejr) April 24, 2018

The officer gave Richardson a ticket for failing to have his Mercedes properly registered. But Richardson also tweeted he’s only had the SUV for two weeks and it has temporary registration.

“The allegations are awful. And I don’t think that it certainly represents the best of our community,” Smith said.

Smith then called the stop “an encounter with law enforcement that all too many people of color have first hand experience.”

The Virginia State Police said that no formal complaint had been filed, but they were conducting an investigation.

“While no formal complaint has been filed, the Department is reviewing the matter, to include the trooper’s in-car camera footage of the traffic stop, to determine if the traffic stop was handled in accordance with state police policy,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement.

Richardson did not immediately respond to News4 for comment.