Fed-Up Utah Swimmer’s Mother: ‘Lack of Communication Adds to the Pile of Disgust’

by Tim Joyce

Suzanne Jurgens, mother of a former Utah swimmer – like other athletes and their family members who have complained to the university about coach Greg Winslow – is fed up. She’s had it. After holding out some hope that an “independent investigation” would shed light on what went wrong under athletic director Chris Hill’s failed leadership, she is now very skeptical that a thorough investigation will take place.

Neither Jurgens nor her daughter has been contacted since the announcement by Utah on March 11 of the hiring of famed “fixer” Mike Glazier and former university trustee Alan Sullivan to look into who-knew-what-and-when-about-Winslow.

Jurgens says her daughter “was interviewed by Utah’s Office of Equal Opportunity the first week in March and promised a written draft of that interview for her to edit for corrections. She’s never seen the draft version of that interview. No follow-through and no explanation as to why.”

And it bears repeating that Jurgens also made it clear years earlier that Winslow was engaged in an “inappropriate relationship” with a swimmer who spent one year at Utah and who is now his alleged victim in the felony sexual abuse recommendation submitted three weeks ago by the Arizona State University police to county prosecutors.

While the Utah investigators probably are first huddling to lay out a strategy as they traverse the evidentiary minefield of damning emails, attempting to extricate themselves via plausible deniability – likely by way of blaming it all on former associate athletic director Pete Oliszczak – it is nonetheless surprising that they haven’t communicated with any of the families who have made serious statements about the university’s handling of the matter.

Do the last ten days of inaction represent Utah’s shining of the proverbial bright light on the matter? No one is reaching for his sunglasses yet.

Jurgens sums up her feelings this way:

“It comes down to communication being the first piece to upright the mast on this battered ship. What are those of us, who have spoken out to Utah and NCAA about the abuse in Utah swimming, to think when we’ve heard absolutely nothing from them (Utah, NCAA, independent investigators)? The lack of communication (i.e. investigation plan) from the powers that be to the parties affected leads to skepticism and adds to the pile of disgust for the way Utah has handled the situation all along. The lack of information is very frustrating and disappointing to say the least. Status quo Utah style!”

Chris Hill said he “would leave no stone unturned” in finding out the truth. The families are waiting.

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