Former USF men’s basketball player speaks on ‘racial incidents’ that occurred while on team

Madut Akec spent three years at USF and played the past two seasons for the men’s basketball team after redshirting his freshman year. USF ATHLETICS PHOTO

Former USF men’s basketball player Madut Akec, who recently entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, posted a tweet Tuesday night addressing “some racial incidents” he experienced this past season with the Bulls.

“USF has been nothing but great over the past few years, however, during this past season I’ve faced some racial incidents in which had caused both me and my family unexplainable stress,” Akec said in his post. “Though I am not yet ready to talk about this issue publicly, I would like to make it known that I have always used basketball as an outlet to escape some of the hardships that I have to face as a Black man in this society.

“But when these issues seem to follow, it becomes both uncomfortable and disturbing.”

His tweet comes days after Associate Athletic Director Brian Siegrist said in a statement the university is aware of the “troubling concerns” reported involving a member of the men’s basketball coaching staff. The university also said that the staff member has been put on administrative leave and an independent review is underway.

“We take these matters very seriously,” Siegrist said. “We will have no further comment until [the investigation] is complete.”

A report put out by former USF and current DraftKings Nation employee Collin Sherwin on March 18 stated that the university is investigating multiple incidents of “racially charged comments” from associate head coach Tom Herrion.

Sherwin’s report also cited that head coach Brian Gregory was under investigation for failing to discipline Herrion or reporting the matter to the university.

A later tweet from Tampa Bay Times reporter Joey Knight, however, refuted that Gregory was under investigation for “any type of wrongdoing or negligence.”

This is a developing story. Stay with The Oracle for more updates.