U. swim coach suspended amid sexual abuse allegations


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SALT LAKE CITY — A University of Utah swim coach has been suspended amid allegations of sexual abuse.

Citing unnamed sources, Irvin Muchnick posted on concussioninc.net about allegations of sexual abuse against Utah head swim coach Greg Winslow. The allegations were filed Monday with Arizona State University police by the father of a former swimmer, according to Muchnick.

ASU police confirmed to ksl.com a police report had been filed regarding Winslow, but could not confirm the report's details on Thursday. They said the report would likely be available by Friday morning.

Muchnick said he had sources in Arizona that had summarized the contents of an 80-plus-page police report containing claims of sexual abuse of a teenage swimmer for at least two years, beginning when the girl was 15 years old.


Greg Winslow

In an interview with the father of the alleged victim, Muchnick was told the man learned about the abuse in summer 2012.

"This was a completely shocking and devastating revelation," the man is quoted as saying. "We trusted this coach with our daughter, and he violated her and robbed her of her childhood, and wreaked havoc on her very being."

Liz Abel, a spokeswoman for Utah's athletic department, said the first the university heard of the allegations was Wednesday night when Muchnick contacted her about his post.

"He called us saying the Arizona State University Police Department was going to file a report with these allegations, and this morning, he put up a blog post with the allegations and sent me an email about it," Abel said.

Muchnick told ksl.com he has complete confidence in the accuracy of his sources, who are "people in Arizona who have spoken to the victim's family."

"I think how quickly the university acted on this shows that they realize it's a completely credible report," he said.

Abel said the situation is a "very gray area" because of the lack of evidence, but the university decided to move forward with the suspension due to the seriousness of the allegations.

Utah athletic director Chris Hill said Winslow was suspended Thursday morning.

"While it is my understanding from an article published this morning that charges have not been filed against Coach Winslow, I feel the allegations are serious enough to suspend him immediately pending further investigation," Hill said Thursday in a statement.


I think how quickly the university acted on this shows that they realize it's a completely credible report.

–Irvin Muchnick


Winslow has been investigated in the past on allegations of sexual misconduct. In December, former swimmer Austin Fiascone sent an email to the University of Utah claiming Winslow had acted inappropriately toward him and other teammates.

"During the process of that investigation, there were rumors that came to light of inappropriate sexual conduct, but our office did a thorough investigation of more than 50 folks, and those allegations were denied by the folks we interviewed," said university spokesman Keith Sterling.

Sterling said it was during that time the university's public safety office was contacted by ASU's police department to notify them of the allegations that were made public Thursday.

"The police chief was asked to keep information confidential, which he did, so no one at the university was aware until last night when the news broke," Sterling said.

The university is now bringing in an outside team to begin another investigation. Hill appointed Richard Marschner, a third-year Utah diving coach, as the interim swimming and diving coach. The Utah women's team is currently competing in Washington at the Pac-12 Championships.

Contributing: Devon Dolan

Video contribution: Jennifer Stagg

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