School disciplines student over racial slur against ex-Kentucky player. Now what?

A Woodford County school student was responsible for a racial slur aimed at former University of Kentucky men’s basketball player Erik Daniels, who is now the girls’ head basketball coach, district officials said Monday.

Former Wildcat Erik Daniels wrote in a Facebook post Saturday that someone had written “n*****” on the rear window of his vehicle after the Woodford County High School girls’ game Friday night.

The school district and high school said in social media posts on Monday that swift and appropriate action was taken with the student responsible. Superintendent Scott Hawkins said the student was disciplined but he couldn’t reveal specifics.

Rob Young, the Versailles assistant police chief, said in an interview that no charges have been filed against the juvenile. The police department will work with the county attorney’s office and juvenile authorities to “determine what charges would be appropriate, if any,“ Young added.

“This type of conduct won’t be tolerated in our community, and we will aggressively investigate incidents of this nature ,” Young said.

Video was just one of the methods used to determine who wrote the racial slur, Young said. He would not say where the juvenile attended school or provide any other identifying information. Juveniles’ and students’ names are rarely released in criminal or disciplinary proceedings.

“We’re obviously disappointed any time a situation like this occurs,” Hawkins said. District officials were discussing on Monday “how do we take what is a negative and use it to teach and to reinforce how we should treat one another,’’ he said. “This is a tangible example now that we have.”

“How do we reinforce those values of treating people with kindness and respect? That will be our focus going forward,” Hawkins said.

Daniels, who played for the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team from 2000 to 2004, was named head coach at the high school in June. He played one season in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings before competing overseas in Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Israel, Croatia and Argentina.

“In 2020, we still have cowards doing things like this,” Daniels wrote on Facebook. “But the funny thing is that we laughed about it, because with me playing basketball all over the world, this happened a lot.

Daniels did not immediately comment Monday.

“I want to commend Coach Daniels because he has handled this with such grace,” Hawkins said. “He has been a model for everyone. I think that’s why we are very fortunate to have him on our staff. He’s a quality person. He understands that the person who did this was wrong and it was inappropriate.”

But at the same time, Hawkins said, Daniels is asking “How do we learn from this?”

“It’s a great model for us all,” Hawkins.

In a Facebook post Saturday, the school district and high school emphasized the incident didn’t reflect “the values and mission of Woodford County Public Schools.”

This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 12:47 PM.