The lawsuit claims Kentucky athletics staff were first warned about Jorgensen’s alleged sexual misconduct by a former colleague after they hired him.
Two former members of the University of Kentucky swim team have accused former head coach Lars Jorgensen of emotional and sexual abuse, harassment and repeated rape and claimed the school “purposefully disregarded multiple credible reports” of his alleged sexual assaults and “aggressively discouraged students and employees from filing reports with the Title IX Office,” according to a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court.
According to the lawsuit, Kentucky was warned about Jorgensen’s alleged sexual misconduct in an email from a former assistant swim team coach at Toledo, Mark Howard, right after it was announced that Kentucky had hired him to their coaching staff. Howard claimed to have forwarded his email with the allegations and concerns about Jorgensen to Kentucky’s athletic director, Mitch Barnhart, and the swim team’s associate head coach at the time, Derek Perkins, the lawsuit stated. But neither Barnhart nor Perkins replied.
According to the university’s website, Jorgensen was named Coach of the Year by the athletic department in 2017 and guided the swim team to eight Top 25 team finishes at the NCAA Championships and the women’s team to its first SEC Championship title, after which he was named 2021 SEC Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year.
Throughout his tenure at Kentucky, Jorgensen allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed Jane Doe II and Alexander relentlessly. The lawsuit details numerous occasions in which other staff members allegedly witnessed the assaults and either ignored them or were ignored when they voiced concerns. Jorgensen was placed on a leave of absence in May 2023 after a swimmer’s parent contacted the NCAA and Kentucky about his “inhumane coaching tactics,” the lawsuit stated.
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