Report: Kentucky paid swimming coach Lars Jorgensen $75K to leave quietly amid sex abuse investigation

More details have emerged regarding the resignation of Lars Jorgensen, the former head swimming and diving coach at Kentucky, on Thursday.

John Cheves of the Lexington-Herald Leader published an updated story regarding the end of Jorgensen’s tenure in Lexington earlier this afternoon. Within those details, he shared that UK AD Mitch Barnhart signed Jorgensen to an agreement worth $75,000 for him to step away from the program that he had led for nine years.

“On June 28, 2023, the University of Kentucky paid head swimming and diving coach Lars Jorgensen $75,000 to go away quietly,” Cheves wrote. “Jorgensen and UK Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart signed a four-page agreement ending the coach’s 2021-25 employment contract, effective immediately.”

“It included the farewell money and language allowing Jorgensen to resign without any public explanation or admission of wrongdoing. A mutual non-disparagement clause prevented the university and Jorgensen from publicly criticizing each other,” continued Cheves. “When reporters called to ask what happened to the swim coach, UK refused to comment.”

Barnhart explained the decision to settle with Jorgensen rather than fire him outright in a previously prepared statement, even though he did not choose to answer any questions regarding this sort specifically.

“UK Athletics officials believed Jorgensen’s actions would ultimately lead to an NCAA finding of violations as a result of a preliminary internal investigation that we initiated in response to complaints,” Barnhart said. “We negotiated a settlement for a fraction of his contract value in exchange for his cooperation with the NCAA and UK in the investigation.”

Lorgensen had been at the center of separate sets of investigations going into the end of his tenure.

Some of this had to do with an investigation regarding violations with the NCAA. That led to a suspension early in May of 2023 for him as well as his staff for a week. The nature of it was to look into the amount of practice and the environment within those practices within the program.

“UK swimmers told investigators that Jorgensen and his coaching staff kept them in the pool for too many hours, on too many days, and the coaches inflicted “punishment practices” when they were mad about student misbehavior,” wrote Cheves. “Students described the swim program as ‘brutal’.”

“My body is constantly in pain and never recovering,” said one swimmer to investigators per notes in interviews shared by Cheves. “My friends have quit and girls are miserable. The boys are miserable.”

However, the far more concerning investigation is in relation to sexual abuse within the program. That one was being handled by the UK Office of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity.

“I’ve spent years in therapy navigating how to move forward from my time at Kentucky,” wrote an undisclosed woman in 2023 who was inside the building. “Until recently, I haven’t been able to be around a pool deck without facing many of these memories.”

“Lars has continuously demonstrated inappropriate relationships with female swimmers during his time at Kentucky,” wrote a former swimmer to Barnhart as well in 2023.

This all comes after a pair of plaintiffs filed a 93-page lawsuit against Jorgensen back in April earlier this year. Barnhart as well as Gary Conelly, the school’s previous head coach, were also named within it.

Per Cheves, Jorgensen has declined to comment on these matters but his attorney denies any of these allegations toward his client.