Two former Kentucky swimmers filed a lawsuit against the school, its athletic director and former swimming coach Lars Jorgensen on Friday, alleging that the coach sexually assaulted them – including an allegation of rape – and that the university ignored warnings about his alleged inappropriate behavior towards women.
The lawsuit claims Jorgensen “forcibly raped” former Kentucky swimmer Briggs Alexander, who was a graduate student at the time of the first alleged assault and later an assistant coach on the team. Another unnamed former swimmer claims Jorgensen groped, harassed and attempted to have sexual relations with her in 2022 while she was her assistant coach. The lawsuit also details an allegation made by a third, unnamed, non-plaintiff woman who says Jorgensen “forcibly raped” her in 2013 during her first year as the team's head coach.
Jorgensen did not respond to a phone call from ESPN. He told The Athletic, which first reported Friday's lawsuit, that none of the allegations against him are true.
Jay Blanton, a university spokesman, said the school takes any allegations of misconduct “very seriously” but does not “discuss specific personnel issues.”
Jorgensen resigned as Kentucky coach in June. The university did not provide any details about why Jorgensen was leaving the swim team when he announced his resignation.
According to the lawsuit, numerous other coaches at Kentucky witnessed Jorgensen groping swimmers or their assistants during his decade with the program. On one occasion in 2015 or 2016, the lawsuit says, a coach reported his alleged behavior to the university's Title IX office.
Mark Howard, who had coached with Jorgensen at the University of Toledo, told plaintiffs' attorneys that he sent an email to Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart and then-swim team head coach Gary Conelly when Jorgensen was first hired as associate head coach in 2012 to warn them about a previous alleged incident of sexual misconduct. According to the lawsuit, Howard wrote that “a former Toledo swimmer made me aware of a sexual relationship she had with Lars [before] She had graduated. …This is no joke and I can't stand the fact that she's going to coach women again.”
According to the lawsuit, Conelly, who is named as a defendant, thanked Howard for sharing the “disturbing allegation” but did not speak to Howard any further. Conelly told The Athletic that he contacted the former Toledo swimmer, who told him that she began dating Jorgensen after her swimming career. He said she “annoys me a little bit,” but that it's not unusual for coaches to have a relationship with one of his former swimmers.
Barnhart did not respond to Howard's email, the lawsuit says.
An athletic department spokesperson did not respond to a request to speak with Barnhart. When asked about the lawsuit after Sunday's news conference at Rupp Arena in which he introduced men's basketball coach Mark Pope, Barnhart said he could not comment because the matter is under litigation.
“I always say we always want to have safety for our student-athletes, our coaches and our staff,” Barnhart said. “But other than that, I can't say anything.”
Blanton said the university reviews any concerns raised about employees or potential employees “prior to hiring or retaining an employee.” He also said the school allows complainants or potential victims to decide whether they want to participate in investigations into any alleged misconduct.
Alexander, who according to the lawsuit now identifies as a man, said he reported details of Jorgensen's alleged assault to a university Title IX officer in June 2023. The woman who says she was assaulted in 2013 also shared details about his alleged violation with Title IX Office around the same time. The Title IX office was investigating a different complaint about Jorgensen's “training tactics,” according to the lawsuit.
Alexander and the other woman said the Title IX officer “strongly discouraged” them from filing an official sexual assault report. According to the lawsuit, his complaints to the Title IX office were not resolved because Jorgensen had dropped out of the university.
In November, the US Center for SafeSport, which adjudicates complaints of sexual abuse and other misconduct in Olympic sports, issued a temporary injunction against Jorgensen that included a ban on unsupervised training and a no-contact order following allegations of misconduct, according to its website. .
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
