This blog is set up for the HHP 126, HHP 157, HHP 420, and HHP 428 courses along with other Sports Students as a way to communicate with fellow classmates and faculty members
On Apr 27, 2024, at 7:28 AM, Sean McAndrews <mcandrse@wvstateu.edu> wrote:
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: Kahari Rogers <krogers11@wvstateu.edu> Date: April 26, 2024 at 9:55:22 PM EDT To: Sean McAndrews <mcandrse@wvstateu.edu> Subject:Case Analysis Articles Approval
1. How the NCAA basketball transfer portal has changed the emphasis on recruiting high school players
From: Kahari Rogers <krogers11@wvstateu.edu> Date: April 26, 2024 at 9:55:22 PM EDT To: Sean McAndrews <mcandrse@wvstateu.edu> Subject:Case Analysis Articles Approval
1. How the NCAA basketball transfer portal has changed the emphasis on recruiting high school players
Automatic timeouts to occur in the last 2 minutes of the 2nd and 4th quarters
Media CenterGreg Johnson
Optional technology rules in football, effective for the 2024 season, were approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on Thursday.
In games involving Football Bowl Subdivision teams, each school will have the option to use coach-to-player communications through the helmet to one player on the field. That player will be identified by having a green dot on the back midline of the player's helmet.
The communication from the coach to the player will be turned off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever comes first.
For all three divisions, teams have the option of using tablets to view in-game video only. The video can include the broadcast feed and camera angles from the coach's sideline and coach's end zone.
Teams can have up to 18 active tablets for use in the coaching booth, sideline and locker room. Tablets cannot be connected to other devices to project larger additional images and cannot include analytics, data or data access capability or other communication access. All team personnel will be allowed to view the tablets during the game.
The Football Rules Committee, which met the last week of February, had a thorough discussion regarding wearable technologies.
The committee invites non-FBS conferences that are interested in using wearable technologies to submit an experimental proposal to the committee. Any proposals must be made to the committee by June 15.
Two-minute timeout
The panel approved adding an automatic timeout when two minutes remain in the second and fourth quarters.
This rules change synchronizes all timing rules, such as 10-second runoffs and stopping the clock when a first down is gained in bounds, which coincides with the two-minute timeout.
First-down timing rules
After a year of review, Division III committee members decided to adopt the timing rules where the game clock would continue to run when a first down is gained in bounds. The game clock will stop when a first down is gained during the last two minutes of either half. Division I and II schools used this timing rule last season.
Other rules changes
Allowing conferences the option of using a collaborative replay review system. This will be formally added to the rules book; it had been an experimental rule.
Penalizing horse-collar tackles that occur within the tackle box as a 15-yard personal foul. Previously, a horse-collar tackle within the tackle box was not a foul.
Additionally, head coaches can conduct interviews with broadcast partners after the first and third quarters. This was allowed on an experimental basis last season and will be added as a permanent rule.
Uniforms
The panel did not support a uniform rule proposal made by the Football Rules Committee. Panel members were not comfortable with on-field officials having to enforce the recommended rule.
The panel understands the rules committee's concern but encourages the committee to look for an administrative solution that does not include game official enforcement.
This story appears in Sportico's Morning Lead newsletter. Click here to sign up and get it delivered straight to your inbox.
Major changes are coming to Title IX as the Biden administration last Friday released a new rule and accompanying regulations that will impact college athletes, including as some see schools make direct NIL payments and others become unionized employees.
A 1,577-page document issued by the U.S. Department of Education details numerous changes and explanations. The rule will go into effect on Aug. 1 and will apply to alleged conduct that occurs on or after that date.
Title IX prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal money. It plays an instrumental role in college sports. Among other effects, Title IX requires that athletic departments provide equitable treatment to men and women athletes. It also mandates procedures to resolve accusations of sexual assault and harassment, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.
The new rule could make it harder for students accused of misconduct to rebut allegations. Colleges will no longer be required to hold live hearings that include opportunities for cross-examination. Schools can instead hold separate meetings with the accuser and the accused, with a school-appointed official asking questions. The school must then provide the parties with recordings or transcripts. Even when live hearings are held, a student must be able to participate remotely instead of in-person.
One argument in favor of holding separate hearings is survivors may be more likely to report incidents if they don't have to face their attacker again. When Title IX live hearings were mandated by the Trump administration, survivors' rights advocates criticized the move as undermining Title IX's goals.
On the other hand, the ability to confront one's accuser is a hallmark of the American legal system. The Sixth Amendment contains the Confrontation Clause, which guarantees the right to confront witnesses in criminal trials. The underlying logic is that before someone is found guilty, they should be able to test the credibility and reliability of witnesses and evidence. In a similar vein, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that "due process requires an opportunity to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses" in a setting where "important decisions turn on questions of fact."
Title IX is not a criminal law, but its impact on students' lives can prove profound. A college student accused of misconduct can be suspended, including from a sports team, or expelled. Although there is no "right" to play a college sport or even to attend college, the loss of continued eligibility can be challenged in court as a denial of a protected property interest.
Some data indicates college athletes have, on average, experienced more problems than others with Title IX. In 2018, an ESPN study found that college athletes at Power Five schools are three times more likely than ordinary students to be accused of sexual misconduct.
A college's ability and, arguably, duty to remove an athlete from a team surfaced earlier this year with a high-profile player. The University of Illinois suspended guard Terrence Shannon Jr., a projected first round pick in the 2024 NBA draft, after he was charged with felony rape and misdemeanor sexual battery in Kansas following an alleged incident at a bar. According to court documents, Shannon allegedly "grabbed a woman's buttocks and digitally penetrated her vagina without her consent."
Shannon sued the school, which as a public university must meet Constitutional safeguards, arguing it misapplied Title IX and other procedures. He also insisted Illinois failed to provide him with due process, including his presumption of innocence. Agreeing with some of Shannon's arguments, a federal judge issued an injunction against the college, which closed its investigation earlier this month. Shannon was reinstated.
The new Title IX rule also expands the scope of actionable claims of sexual harassment. Currently, harassment must be "severe, pervasive and objectively offensive." But the new rule drops "objectively offensive," which means the harassment no longer must be offensive from an objective viewpoint (typically called the "reasonable person" perspective in law), and adopts "severe or pervasive."
The standard of proof necessary to establish sexual harassment is also decreasing in certain situations. Currently, universities can opt for the "clear and convincing evidence" standard, which though lower than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard used in criminal trials, is higher than the "preponderance of evidence" (more likely than not) standard used in civil trials. The new rules say that schools must use preponderance of the evidence unless clear and convincing is used "in all other comparable proceedings," in which case the school can elect to use it.
Although the new rule explicitly states that sex-based harassment includes harassment over gender identity, it eschews the politically controversial topic of trans athletes' eligibility to play sports. That topic is at issue in federal litigation as well at the state government level, with 24 states banning transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. Earlier this month, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics effectively banned transgender athletes for all women's sports other than for two co-ed sports, competitive cheer and competitive dance.
The new Title IX rule arrives at a tumultuous time for colleges as their legal relationship with athletes hastily evolves.
So far this year, an NLRB regional director has recognized Dartmouth College's men's basketball players as employees and those players unionized. An administrative law judge is weighing whether USC football and men's and women's basketball players are employees of their school, conference and the NCAA. Last week, an advocacy group charged Notre Dame with an unfair labor practice for unlawfully using the "student-athlete" label. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is evaluating Johnson v. NCAA, a case where athletes argue they are employees. Meanwhile, NCAA president Charlie Baker has called for colleges to be able to directly pay athletes for their NIL and that approach will be the law of Virginia as of July 1.
Colleges that pay athletes, whether at those colleges' choosing or as compelled by law and whether in an employer-employee relationship or via some other workplace vehicle, will need to comply with Title IX since those athletes are students. Colleges that pay football and/or men's basketball players but not pay other athletes would undoubtedly face Title IX litigation. They might also face claims under the Equal Pay Act and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, laws that prohibit sex discrimination in compensation and employment. There has been talk of several dozen college football programs spinning off into a "super league," where the employer might be a conference or professional league (neither of which is governed by Title IX) rather than a college (which is governed by Title IX), though the mechanics of that happening remain cloudy and speculative.
The new rule does not address college athlete employment, NIL or pay-for-play compensation as standalone topics, but it does contain relevant language. It mentions that "nothing in these regulations interferes" with an employee's right to use a grievance process contained in a collective bargaining agreement to protect and advance their rights. The rule also refers to rights contained in an employment contract, handbook, or institution-specific set of policies as potentially supplying additional legal rights that might complement those accorded to students. In other words, a collegiate employee-athlete could initiate a grievance related to harassment or defend themself from an allegation through procedures related to their employment relationship with a school. The rule cautions, however, that use of such rights must not "prevent" a school from fulfilling its Title IX obligations.
From: Dyson Bowers <dbowers3@wvstateu.edu> Date: April 22, 2024 at 9:11:26 PM EDT To: Sean McAndrews <mcandrse@wvstateu.edu> Subject:HHP 428 Case Analysis 5, 6 & 7
In August 2019, two swim coaches at San Jose (Calif.) State reported allegations they had heard about University of Kentucky head swimming coach Lars Jorgensen to a Title IX officer at their school. The allegations were that Jorgensen had been in a relationship with one of his swimmers at an earlier coaching stop and that he had sexually assaulted a woman on the swim staff at Kentucky. The Title IX officer at San Jose State then alerted a counterpart at Kentucky.
It was at least the third time Kentucky was made aware or should have been aware of an allegation of misconduct by Jorgensen.
In June 2012, Mark Howard, a former assistant swimming coach at the University of Toledo, sent separate emails to Gary Conelly, then Kentucky's head swim coach, and UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart. "This is no joke at all and I cannot stomach the fact that (Jorgensen) will be coaching women again," Howard wrote to Conelly, who had recently added Jorgensen as an associate head coach. He informed both men that a swimmer had told him that she had been in a sexual relationship with Jorgensen while he coached her at Toledo.
In October 2014, a former Toledo softball coach repeated the allegation that Jorgensen had been in a "long-term romantic relationship" with a student-athlete in a wrongful termination lawsuit she filed against that school. The allegation appeared in news articles about the lawsuit and was discussed by some team members at Kentucky, where Jorgensen had ascended to head coach.
After the San Jose State official alerted Kentucky in 2019 about the allegations made against Jorgensen, the UK office that handles Title IX complaints compiled an initial report, which was marked "not urgent." After Jorgensen denied wrongdoing and the swim staffer he allegedly sexually assaulted declined to speak to a school official, the matter was deemed "closed" after a week.
Last June, Kentucky announced Jorgensen's resignation in a press release. No reason was given for his exit. It went unsaid that one former Kentucky swimmer reported enduring "years of sexual assault, abuse and harassment" by Jorgensen to the school, and that a former staff member disclosed that Jorgensen "physically violated" her. Another former Kentucky swimmer informed a school official after Jorgensen resigned that she wanted to report a "forced sexual assault" by Jorgensen. Two of those team members said the abuse spanned multiple years. All three have spoken to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, which is investigating Jorgensen.
On Friday, two of the former team members filed a lawsuit against Jorgensen, Kentucky, Barnhart and Conelly in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. According to the complaint, 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."
"When I was a student-athlete I gave my blood, sweat and tears to the school. … But in reality, what was it worth?" said Briggs Alexander, a former team captain and assistant coach at UK and one of the plaintiffs. "They took so much from me."
Based on interviews, documents obtained from UK via a records request, and the complaint, the allegations against Jorgensen include:
• He raped two members of the swim program following team Christmas parties at his home, raped one of those individuals in hotels on team trips and masturbated in front of that same person in his office.
• He sent a member of the women's swim team photos showing his erect penis and videos of him masturbating, and he sent suggestive messages to swimmers over social media. • He told personal sex stories to swim team members and talked about women he wanted to have sex with. He asked swimmers about their sexual experiences, and he commented on their breast size and how they looked in swimsuits. He inquired about swimmers' menstrual cycles and asked one team member if she was on birth control. • Jorgensen implemented punishment workouts, in violation of NCAA policy, made degrading comments and body-shamed swimmers. He also withheld food from athletes after poor performances and assigned extra workouts to swimmers whose body fat percentage exceeded a limit he determined. He told one swimmer she reminded him of "fat people that walked around the mall."
Jorgensen, 53, was provided a detailed account of the allegations against him in a phone interview Wednesday. He responded: "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."
A Kentucky spokesperson wrote in an email: "Mr. Jorgensen is no longer an employee of the University of Kentucky. We do not, as a matter of policy, discuss specific personnel issues." The spokesperson added that the university takes concerns raised about potential employees or current employees "very seriously." Barnhart did not respond to a request for comment.
Conelly said that in 2012 he contacted the woman at Toledo alleged to have been in a relationship with Jorgensen. He said that she told him she began dating Jorgensen only after she stopped swimming (information Conelly said he shared with a Kentucky athletic department official). Asked if it concerned him that Jorgensen dated a subordinate who had so recently been a student-athlete, Conelly added: "Yeah, that bothers me a little bit. But I'm sure you know this – this is not an uncommon occurrence that there is a relationship between a coach and an ex-swimmer."
Kentucky announced Jorgensen's resignation in a press release last June. No reason was given for his exit. (Jack Spitser)
Jorgensen competed as a 17-year-old in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, finishing 23rd in the 1,500 freestyle. He then swam at the University of Tennessee before graduating in 1994, then stayed with the Vols as a graduate assistant coach. Following stints at swim clubs in Maryville, Tenn., and in his hometown of San Diego, he was hired in 1999, at age 28, as an assistant coach at LSU. He remained there until 2004, when Toledo gave him his first head coaching job.
Toledo finished sixth in the Mid-American Conference in Jorgensen's first season. By his last (2009-10), the Rockets were league champions. Two Toledo swimmers said they heard only after graduating that Jorgensen, as alleged in the 2014 lawsuit, may have been in a romantic relationship with one of their teammates. In Jorgensen's final season at Toledo, swimmers gossiped about him and that woman, who had remained at the school as an assistant coach after her eligibility expired. Players recalled her staying behind with Jorgensen after the team's Christmas party at his house, and they would sometimes see the two arrive at early morning practices together. In response to the 2014 lawsuit, which was settled the next year, the school said it "lacks knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the (allegation)." The woman did not respond to The Athletic's interview requests.
In 2010, Jorgensen resigned from Toledo and returned to Tennessee. It positioned him to succeed John Trembley, who had coached Jorgensen in college. In January 2012, Trembley was fired after he sent sexually explicit messages from his university email account. Jorgensen took over as interim head coach but was not given the head job permanently. Kentucky then hired him in June 2012, putting him in line to succeed Conelly, which he did about a year later.
In December 2013, Jorgensen held a team Christmas party at his home. As the guests departed, he asked a swim team staffer about 20 years his junior to stay behind to help clean up. When they were alone, according to the complaint and interviews with that woman, Jorgensen grabbed her, pulled her into his bedroom and raped her. The woman told Jorgensen "no" and screamed for him to stop. She told The Athletic that she passed out and that when she woke up later, she drove herself home.
The next day, the woman said Jorgensen showed up at her door with flowers and chocolate. He sobbed, telling her it would never happen again. But Jorgensen continued to abuse the staffer, according to the complaint and interviews. He'd call her into his office under the guise of talking about the team, and then he would masturbate in front of her. He'd grope her under the table during staff dinners. The complaint states that he "forcibly raped" her on multiple occasions over the next two years; she told The Athletic that occurred in hotel rooms during team trips. She said Jorgensen repeatedly told her if she told anyone no one would believe her and it would jeopardize her future in swimming.
"I felt like I didn't have a voice. I felt like if I told people I wouldn't be able to be in a profession I was so passionate about and loved. That was held over my head and I was told that quite often," she said.
(Years later, the woman disclosed the incidents to her now-husband, who corroborated that disclosure in an interview with The Athletic. Around this time, she also emailed Jorgensen in advance of a meet they would both be attending and said she didn't want to have any communication with him.)
The staffer left the program in 2016 for a job at a less prominent program. She told multiple members of the UK swimming team that she wanted to be closer to home. "I was just kind of in survival mode," the woman said. "I had lost a lot of weight… I think I was coming to terms with what was going on and I didn't know how to handle it other than leave."
One of the swimmers who recalled being surprised by the staffer's exit was Briggs Alexander, who had recently finished her sophomore season. (Alexander swam on the women's team at Kentucky but later transitioned while serving as an assistant coach. At Alexander's request, The Athletic is using gender pronouns that correspond with his transition timeline because he wants the reader to understand "who I was in the moment when I was being abused.")
By the 2016-17 season, Jorgensen had "groomed" Alexander, the complaint alleges: "Jorgensen isolated Alexander, sought to gain her trust, strove to control every facet of her life, and repeatedly made sexualized comments in an attempt to desensitize sexual topics." If Alexander rebuffed Jorgensen in any way, he threatened to stop coaching her, imperiling her swimming career and Olympic aspirations.
Alexander described feeling like "Pavlov's dog," conditioned to comply with Jorgensen's demands.
Alexander said Jorgensen asked her to download Snapchat so they could communicate while Alexander competed at the 2017 World University Games in Taiwan. In the months that followed, according to the complaint and interviews with Alexander, Jorgensen sent sexually graphic photos showing his erect penis and videos of him masturbating. Alexander said that she sent a few topless photos to Jorgensen, afraid that if she didn't reciprocate she'd be punished at practice. Eventually, Alexander deleted Snapchat.
In 2017-18, Alexander's final season, Jorgensen suggested that Alexander remain at Kentucky and become an assistant coach. Jorgensen would take Alexander, who was by then working on her master's degree, out to dinner under the guise of career planning. During these outings, he'd hug Alexander, kiss her on the forehead and put his arm around Alexander's waist, according to the complaint and interviews.
In December 2019, Alexander, then a volunteer assistant coach, said she was wiping down a counter after the team's annual Christmas party at Jorgensen's home, helping to clean up at Jorgensen's request, when Jorgensen began groping her. According to the complaint and interviews, Alexander tried pulling away and telling him to stop but Jorgensen brought her into a bedroom, pinned her down by the wrists and raped her. When she tried leaving later, Alexander said Jorgensen grabbed her arm and threatened her if she told anyone what happened.
During the 2019-20 season, Alexander began dating a woman, which Alexander said Jorgensen fixated on. According to the complaint and interviews, Jorgensen twice raped Alexander at Jorgensen's home in the spring of 2020 – once in March 2020 at his home while "pinning her down by the neck" and later that spring on his couch at home.
Alexander left to coach at the University of Buffalo for the 2020-21 season, but Jorgensen kept in contact. According to the complaint and interviews, Jorgensen sexually harassed her, asking Alexander for photos and videos of Alexander engaging in sex acts with her girlfriend; Alexander refused. In April 2021, Jorgensen offered Alexander a job at Kentucky, a full-time coaching job that included a significant pay raise. Alexander was reluctant to return but was also unhappy in Buffalo. Before she accepted the position at UK, Alexander said she made Jorgensen promise their relationship would remain strictly professional. But according to the complaint, Jorgensen sexually assaulted Alexander on multiple occasions once Alexander returned, which included groping him at a staff dinner and raping him on one occasion during the 2021-22 season.
By this time, Alexander had begun transitioning and said Jorgensen seemed to grow increasingly "more aggressive with him," according to the complaint and interviews. Jorgensen told Alexander he knew what Alexander actually liked sexually.
"It was almost as if I was writing with my left hand as a child … and my mom would put the marker in my right hand to correct the behavior," Alexander said.
(Alexander later disclosed details of Jorgensen's alleged abuse to his fiance and victim's advocate Rachael Denhollander, both of whom corroborated those disclosures.)
Alexander resigned from his coaching position in May 2022 but Jorgensen continued to sexually harass him and sexually assaulted Alexander one more time in April 2023, forcing Alexander to perform oral sex on him, according to the complaint. It stopped after Alexander threatened to go to the police. Alexander said the support from his now-fiance, Julia Vincent, a two-time Olympian and former volunteer assistant coach for Kentucky's diving team, was essential. "A lot of the strength for me came from Jules. We were in this together," Alexander said.
The third person who accused Jorgensen of wrongdoing, a former swimmer and team captain, was, according to the complaint, groomed similarly to Alexander. Jorgensen "sought to assert control over (her) personal life" and he "would often punish her by embarrassing her at practice" if she did not respond to his many calls. He also frequently talked to her about her body and sex and asked her if she was having sex with her boyfriend.
In December 2022, the woman, then a volunteer coach, said Jorgensen took her to dinner for what he said was a discussion about her future in coaching. After dinner, he asked her to come inside his home to discuss a book he said he was working on about leadership and team culture. Once inside, she said he asked sexually explicit questions and tried to kiss her, according to the complaint and interviews. He also groped her breast, buttocks and thigh. She repeatedly told him to stop and pushed him away. He told her he thought she'd be good at sex and said: "What did you expect when you came over here?" She told him she had to leave and exited.
The next day, she sent Jorgensen a text that read: "Lars, I want to let you know that what happened last night was not fun for me… You have a position of power over me and touching me, asking for sexual favors, and asking sexual questions is unprofessional. I do not want you to pursue me in any sexual or harassing way again."
Jorgensen pleaded with her via text to discuss the incident over the phone and asked if she could meet for coffee or dinner. They later spoke on the phone, and the woman said Jorgensen cried, telling her he was upset another assistant coach was leaving and that he wasn't acting like himself. He said it would never happen again and offered her a paid coaching position, which she later accepted, on her condition that he adhered to professional boundaries
"I didn't know it was a pattern," said the woman, who left after the season for a coaching position elsewhere.
Jorgensen swam at the University of Tennessee before graduating in 1994, and returned as a coach in 2010. (Jack Spitser)
By April 2023, Kentucky's compliance department was probing whether Jorgensen violated NCAA rules related to punishment swims and non-voluntary practice hour overages. "We were just getting tons of complaints from athletes," a compliance official commented in one document, obtained via a public records request. (Jorgensen was previously suspended for one week for similar violations of NCAA rules, which occurred during the 2021-22 season.)
As word of the compliance review spread, more alumni of the program contacted the school about Jorgensen's conduct. In one anonymous email sent to Barnhart, the athletic director, on May 14, 2023, a woman who said that she swam for Jorgensen for four years accused him of running punishment workouts, making degrading comments, explosive outbursts and routine body-shaming. The woman also wrote that Jorgensen "continuously demonstrated inappropriate relationships with female swimmers during his time at Kentucky" including sending suggestive messages to swimmers via social media.
That email was forwarded to Kentucky's compliance department on May 16.
Around that time, the former staffer who said Jorgensen sexually assaulted her in 2013 contacted Alexander on Instagram. She had heard Jorgensen was being investigated and asked Alexander about his time swimming and coaching with him. Eventually, they shared their experiences regarding Jorgensen and expressed a desire to stop him from working with other athletes.
The former staffer then sent an email to three school officials in which she called Jorgensen "a predator to young women in the (sport)." In that email, she accused Jorgensen of sexual harassment, body shaming, and said Jorgensen would show up at her apartment unannounced and uninvited. She wrote that Jorgensen "physically violated" her at a Christmas party at his condo.
That staffer, along with other team members, described in interviews with The Athletic how Jorgensen assigned swimmers a set body-fat percentage – it ranged from 10 to 16 percent – and if they failed to meet that benchmark they would be assigned extra training and/or told to not eat. According to the complaint, Jorgensen closely monitored their caloric intake and the swimmers' "dangerously low body fat percentages" often resulted "in the cessation of their menstrual cycles." Jorgensen told some swimmers that they performed better when hungry, and he withheld food from swimmers after poor performances. Two individuals told of an instance when the team had to wait on the bus outside a fast-food restaurant while only the coaches went in and ate.
On June 1, Barnhart notified Jorgensen that he was suspended pending an investigation. On June 15, Alexander had a Zoom call with a UK Title IX official and told about his experience with Jorgensen. Less than two weeks later, on June 28, Jorgensen resigned from his job, taking a settlement worth $75,000, forgoing the $402,500 remaining on his contract through the 2024-25 season.
About four months later, the former team captain and UK assistant coach who said Jorgensen sexually assaulted her at his home in December 2022, emailed the school's interim Title IX coordinator, writing that Jorgensen was a "dangerous man" and that she wanted to report a forced sexual assault. That official wrote back that since Jorgensen was no longer employed by UK, the school's office of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity had no jurisdiction to investigate, but said she could file a report with the local police department or her current employer. Three days later, that same official reversed course, writing that the IEEO office wanted her statement on file.
The conflicting messages, as well as correspondence in the ensuing months in which she felt UK officials were being evasive about what they would do with the information she shared, prompted her to instead pursue an investigation with the U.S. Center for SafeSport. "I have lost all confidence that UK is capable of handling such an investigation," the woman said in an email to an IEEO official.
According to the complaint, the other two swim team members felt they were "vigorously discouraged" by a Title IX officer from reporting Jorgensen's abuse. They have also spoken to SafeSport investigators. Jorgensen's name now appears in the SafeSport disciplinary database for "allegations of misconduct" with temporary restrictions that include no unsupervised coaching, training and contact with athletes.
The Kentucky spokesperson wrote in an email: "It is entirely up to the victim or complainant to decide whether they want to participate in such a review or not. Part of ensuring the well-being of our people is giving them the opportunity to decide whether they want to participate in an investigation of this kind."
In November, Alexander and one of the other former swim team members retained attorneys Megan Bonanni and Channing Robinson-Holmes of Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers.
"He had so much power over me. I don't want any athlete to feel like they have no control in their life," said Alexander, currently a doctoral student at Kentucky. "They have a voice. You're not an athlete. You're a person."
(Top image: Eamon Dalton / The Athletic; Photo: iStock)
---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Sean McAndrews<mcandrse@wvstateu.edu> Date: Fri, Apr 12, 2024 at 11:08 AM Subject: SPRING 2024 HHP 420 & HHP 428 Friday 04/12/2024 - class canceled to Flooding To: Sean McAndrews <smcandrews1935@suddenlink.net>
FYI
Last week 04/05/2024 was canceled due to tornado / lack of power
and
This week 04/12/2024 is canceled due to flooding
We will have class on 04/19/24
12pm HHP 428
1pm HHP 420
2pm HHP 420
3pm HHP 428
The HHP 428 will have assignments due May 3, 2024 instead of April 29, 2024. They are Planning Long Term - Weekly - Daily, Performance Based Objectives, and 2 simple Budgets
Assignments due in both HHP 428 and HHP 420 that were due in April - Technology and Facilities - will keep the same date
Technology can be as simple as joining https://www.linkedin.com/ and start building your name to find a job in a few years.. If you join linked in - add me for the points
HHP 420 will have a final instead of small quizzes
If you are on campus stop by before next friday if you have questions, if not eee you next friday 04/19/2024
mcandrews
Sean McAndrews, MA Associate AD Senior Compliance, Administration
Last week 04/05/2024 was canceled due to tornado / lack of power
and
This week 04/12/2024 is canceled due to flooding
We will have class on 04/19/24
12pm HHP 428
1pm HHP 420
2pm HHP 420
3pm HHP 428
The HHP 428 will have assignments due May 3, 2024 instead of April 29, 2024. They are Planning Long Term - Weekly - Daily, Performance Based Objectives, and 2 simple Budgets
Assignments due in both HHP 428 and HHP 420 that were due in April - Technology and Facilities - will keep the same date
Technology can be as simple as joining https://www.linkedin.com/ and start building your name to find a job in a few years.. If you join linked in - add me for the points
HHP 420 will have a final instead of small quizzes
If you are on campus stop by before next friday if you have questions, if not eee you next friday 04/19/2024
mcandrews
Sean McAndrews, MA Associate AD Senior Compliance, Administration
---------- Forwarded message --------- From: NFHS<info@nfhs.delsend.com> Date: Wed, Apr 10, 2024 at 3:52 PM Subject: Flag Football Expanding Nationwide as Next Emerging High School Sport for Girls To: Sean McAndrews <mcandrse@wvstateu.edu>
The popularity of flag football – for boys and girls – has been growing at the youth levels for the past 10 years. In 2023, about 500,000 girls ages 6-17 played flag football – a 63 percent increase since 2019. At a higher level of competition, more universities are beginning to offer flag football for girls, which will certainly enhance the appeal for girls playing the sport at the high school level.
As a result of this recent growth, the NFHS – the rules-writing organization for high school sports for more than 100 years – has been asked by its member associations to consider publishing national playing rules for flag football, which is currently played under a number of rules codes. A task force is currently being assembled to formulate plans, including appointment of a rules committee and a timetable for implementation. This would be the 18th sport for which the NFHS writes national playing rules.
The NFHS is excited about this new sports opportunity – particularly for girls. Flag is a sport of inclusivity, can be played in any season (weather dependent), is fast-paced and offers the excitement of tackle football with a reduced risk of injury. Costs are also minimal since students need little more than a uniform, pair of cleats or athletic shoes.
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