By Riley Overend on SwimSwam
Former University of Kentucky head coach Lars Jorgensen was reportedly suspended back in 2019 for failure to report sexual harassment allegations made against one his staff members, according to records obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Jorgensen was also suspended for the Wildcats’ SEC opener in November of 2023 before spending almost two months off deck last May prior to his resignation in June. Last month, two of his ex-swimmers (who later became assistant coaches) filed lawsuit against Jorgensen and Kentucky claiming that university was complicit in allowing him to groom and sexually assault them.
Jorgensen was reportedly suspended for six days without pay in December of 2019 for hiding sexual assault allegations against a staff member. He was paid a $75,000 settlement before resigning last June — significantly less than the $402,500 left on his contract through the 2024-25 season.
Jorgensen’s lawyer, Greg Anderson, blamed the disturbing accusations on his support of Riley Gaines. Jorgensen himself denied allegations that he is a “serial sexual predator,” claiming he had consensual dating relationships with his accusers while they worked under him assistant coaches at Kentucky.
Former Kentucky swim coach Gary Conelly and current athletic director Mitch Barnhart are also named as defendants in the lawsuit along with Jorgensen and the university for their “deliberate indifference.” Kentucky’s Title IX office has reportedly known since 2019 about accusations that Jorgensen had been in a relationship with one of his swimmers at Toledo and sexually assaulted a staff member at Kentucky. In the lawsuit, former members of the Wildcats program say they were “vigorously discouraged” by a Title IX officer from reporting Jorgensen’s abuse.
In 2014, a former Toledo softball coach accused Jorgensen of having a long-term romance with a swimmer, hiring her as an assistant coach, and ultimately promoting her to head coach in a Title IX lawsuit where he was one of three examples of male head coaches and administrators who “committed much more egregious offenses” without being fired. Conelly told The Athletic that he looked into that situation and said Jorgensen only started dating her after she stopped swimming.
“This is not an uncommon occurrence that there is a relationship between a coach and an ex-swimmer,” Conelly said.
As a swimmer, Jorgensen set program records at the University of Tennessee and went on to represent the U.S. at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. The 53-year-old has also held the record for the Ironman World Championships for nearly two decades with a swimming split of 46:41.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Former Kentucky Coach Lars Jorgensen Reportedly Suspended Previously in 2019