mutiny after he criticized them following a winless four-game Eastern road trip. The Nuggets' team captains called a boycott of their next practice, prompting interest from CNN and other news outlets. The team saw some improvement later in the season, but missed the playoffs with a 40–42 record. Issel's Nuggets tenure ended in December 2001. On December 11, after a close loss to the Charlotte Hornets, Issel heard a fan taunting him, as he walked off the court at the Pepsi Center. Issel taunted back, "Go drink another beer, you Mexican piece of shit." The incident was captured on Denver's NBC affiliate, KUSA-TV. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce responded by stating that its members would boycott the team unless Issel was fired. Issel was suspended without pay for four games by the team. He publicly apologized the next day, and on Friday met with Hispanic chamber representatives, who accepted his apology. However, several members of Denver's Hispanic community thought the suspension was insufficient punishment and called for him to be fired. Hours before he was due to return, Issel took a leave of absence to decide whether he wanted to return. He accepted a buyout of his contract and resigned on December 26. Personal life Issel's wife Cheri, whom he met at the University of Kentucky, is an accomplished artist. Cheri was a cheerleader at Kentucky. The Issels have two children, Sheridan and Scott. Greg Issel, Dan's younger brother, was a star forward on Batavia teams in 1968 and 1969, following Dan. Greg Issel died suddenly of heart failure in 1998 at the age of 46. In 2011, Issel served as executive director at the Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. As of 2014, he lived in Windsor, Colorado, and was employed in the oil and gas business. In 2017, Issel served as speaker at Batavia High School's gymnasium to honor a family friend, fellow Batavia classmate and national sportscaster Craig Sager, after Sager's death. Sager and Issel were basketball teammates at Batavia High School when Sager was a freshman and Issel a senior. In February 2018, Issel became president of the Louisville Basketball Investment and Support Group, a Kentucky-based company founded in 2016 to pursue an NBA franchise. Honors Issel was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1973. In 1985, Issel received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. In 1985, Issel's jersey #44