Former Kentucky swim coach accused of sexual violence deemed ‘permanently ineligible’ from teaching

The U.S. Center for SafeSport has dominated that former Kentucky swimming coach Lars Jorgensen is completely ineligible from teaching, in response to its Centralized Disciplinary Database. The misconduct discovered was an intimate relationship involving an influence imbalance; bodily misconduct; retaliation; sexual harassment; and sexual misconduct, in response to the database.

Jorgensen can attraction the ruling by way of arbitration, although it isn’t instantly clear if he plans to take action.

In June 2023, Kentucky introduced Jorgensen’s resignation in a information launch. No purpose was given for his exit. But the transfer got here after years of alleged sexual violence towards ladies by Jorgensen.

In Kentucky’s launch, it went unsaid that one former Kentucky swimmer reported enduring “years of sexual assault, abuse and harassment” by Jorgensen to the varsity, and {that a} former workers member disclosed that Jorgensen “physically violated” her. Another former Kentucky swimmer knowledgeable a faculty official after Jorgensen resigned that she wished to report a “forced sexual assault” by Jorgensen. Two of these workforce members mentioned the abuse spanned a number of years. All three spoke to the U.S. Center for SafeSport.

The U.S. Center for SafeSport doesn’t touch upon the specifics of instances, however mentioned the next in a written assertion from interim CEO April Holmes to The Athletic on Thursday: “No athlete should ever be subject to abuse, or worse yet — retaliation — for speaking up. Accountability leads to the culture change necessary for athletes to fulfill their potential without the fear of harm by those in positions of power. We are grateful to those who came forward to share their stories and help bring about this resolution.”

Jorgensen didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

In spring 2024, two former Kentucky workforce members filed a lawsuit towards Jorgensen, Kentucky, UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart and former Kentucky swim head coach Gary Conelly in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. According to the grievance, Kentucky’s “complicity and deliberate indifference” enabled Jorgensen “to foster a toxic, sexually hostile environment within the swim program and to prey on, sexually harass, and commit horrific sexual assaults and violent rapes against young female coaches and collegiate athletes who were reliant on him.”

The allegations included Jorgensen raping two members of the swim program following a workforce Christmas celebration at his residence, raping a type of people in lodges on workforce journeys and masturbating in entrance of that very same particular person in his workplace. They additionally included Jorgensen sending a member of the ladies’s swim workforce pictures exhibiting his erect penis and movies of him masturbating, and sending suggestive messages to swimmers over social media. He additionally allegedly requested swimmers about their sexual experiences, commented on their breast measurement and the way they regarded in swimsuits and assigned further exercises to swimmers whose physique fats share exceeded a restrict he decided, amongst different issues.

When requested about these allegations in spring 2024, Jorgensen advised The Athletic: “None of that is true, so I don’t really have much further comment. I’ve always tried to lead in a positive manner and do what’s best for each individual and the team overall.”

Jorgensen, a former Olympian within the 1,500 freestyle, swam on the University of Tennessee earlier than graduating in 1994, then stayed with the Vols as a graduate assistant coach. Following stints at swim golf equipment in Maryville, Tenn., and in his hometown of San Diego, Jorgensen was employed by LSU in 1999 as an assistant coach. He remained there till 2004, when Toledo gave him his first head-coaching job.

In 2010, Jorgensen resigned from Toledo and returned to Tennessee. It positioned him to succeed John Trembley, who coached Jorgensen in school. In January 2012, Trembley was fired after he despatched sexually specific messages from his college e-mail account. Jorgensen took over as interim head coach however was not given the pinnacle job completely. Kentucky then employed him in June 2012, placing him in line to succeed Conelly, which he did a couple of 12 months later.

By April 2023, Kentucky’s compliance division was investigating whether or not Jorgensen violated NCAA guidelines associated to punishment swims and non-voluntary apply hour overages. “We were just getting tons of complaints from athletes,” a compliance official commented in a single doc, obtained by way of a public data request.

As phrase of the compliance evaluate unfold, extra alumni of this system contacted the varsity about Jorgensen’s conduct. In one nameless e-mail despatched to Barnhart, the athletic director, on May 14, 2023, a girl who mentioned that she swam for Jorgensen for 4 years, accused him of working punishment exercises, making degrading feedback, explosive outbursts and routine body-shaming. The lady additionally wrote that Jorgensen “continuously demonstrated inappropriate relationships with female swimmers during his time at Kentucky,” together with sending suggestive messages to swimmers by way of social media. That e-mail was forwarded to Kentucky’s compliance division on May 16.

On June 1, 2023, Barnhart notified Jorgensen that he was suspended pending an investigation. On June 15, 2023, one of many swimmers who got here ahead towards Jorgensen, Briggs Alexander, had a Zoom name with a UK Title IX official and mentioned his expertise with Jorgensen. (Alexander swam on the ladies’s workforce at Kentucky however later transitioned whereas serving as an assistant coach.) Less than two weeks later, on June 28, Jorgensen resigned from his job and took a settlement price $75,000, forgoing the $402,500 remaining on his contract by means of the 2024-25 season.

About 4 months later, the previous workforce captain and UK assistant coach who mentioned Jorgensen sexually assaulted her at his residence emailed the varsity’s interim Title IX coordinator, writing that Jorgensen was a “dangerous man” and that she wished to report a pressured sexual assault. That official wrote again that since Jorgensen was not employed by UK, the varsity’s workplace of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity had no jurisdiction to research. The official mentioned the lady may file a report with the native police division or her present employer. Three days later, that very same official reversed course, writing that the IEEO workplace wished her assertion on file.

The conflicting messages, in addition to correspondence within the ensuing months wherein the lady felt UK officers had been being evasive about what they might do with the knowledge she shared, prompted her to pursue an investigation with the U.S. Center for SafeSport as an alternative.

Before Thursday’s ruling deeming Jorgensen completely ineligible from teaching, his title appeared within the SafeSport disciplinary database for “allegations of misconduct” with short-term restrictions that included no unsupervised teaching, coaching and make contact with with athletes.