The University of Utah announced Monday it is hiring a pair of outside investigators to review allegations of physical abuse and inappropriate behavior by the school's ousted swim coach.
The university already has said it won't renew the contract of suspended swim coach Greg Winslow based on allegations that he sexually abused a teenage girl he coached in Arizona six years ago.
Winslow has been on paid suspension since Feb. 28, when University of Utah officials were made aware of the Arizona allegations.
He has not been arrested or charged in either state. The Maricopa County attorney's office in Phoenix is reviewing a 97-page police report from Arizona State University.
Parents of his Utah swimmers allege Winslow came to practice drunk, punched an assistant coach, and forced a swimmer to do underwater sprints until he blacked out, according to a report from The Salt Lake Tribune. Parents say the university did not adequately investigate the claims when they were first made aware of them.
Winslow did not answer phone calls for comment from The Associated Press, and his voicemail box was full. He has denied the allegations at Arizona State University.
The University of Utah did an internal investigation of some of these allegations in the fall but found no wrongdoing, university spokesman Keith Sterling said.
University of Utah President David Pershing announced Monday that he has chosen two attorneys to do the new investigation: Michael Glazier, a Kansas City, Mo.,-based attorney with experience doing college athletic investigations; and Alan Sullivan, a Salt Lake City attorney.
They will be asked to determine whether any wrongdoing occurred during Winslow's nearly six years as head swim coach. The investigators also will be asked to find out what was reported to university officials and how those reports were handled.
The cost of the outside investigation is not yet known, Sterling said.
Winslow denied the sexual abuse allegations at Arizona State University in an interview with ASU police. The police report shows Winslow was 32 when he took a special interest in a 15-year-old swimmer on the Sun Devils Aquatics club in Tempe, Ariz.
The girl's father reported the abuse to ASU police in September 2012 after his now-22-year-old daughter attempted suicide. The father told police that the sexual abuse went on for three years until Winslow left to take the job at the University of Utah, according to a police report obtained by the AP. The abuse occurred after swim practice in Winslow's locked office and included kissing and fondling, the report shows.
Winslow urged her to keep quiet about the abuse, saying, "People will think I'm Chester the Molester," according to a police report. The woman told police in Arizona that Greg Winslow was "like the creepy uncle you know hugging you too long."
The University of Utah conducted a criminal background check of Winslow before hiring him as a swim coach in June 2007, Sterling said.
Prior to coming to Salt Lake City, Winslow was assistant swim coach at ASU, the Air Force Academy and Saint Cloud State University. He is originally from Colorado Springs, Colo., and was an All-American swimmer in 1996 at the University of North Dakota.
The university has begun a search for a new coach. Richard Marschner is serving as interim director of the swimming and diving program, and will continuing to coach divers. Assistant coach James Winchester is the interim swim coach.
