Georgia Tech Coach Josh Pastner Accused of Sexual Assault

This is a counter-lawsuit to a lawsuit Pastner filed against Ronald Bell and Jennifer Pendley.

josh pastner
Head coach Josh Pastner of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets looks on during a game against the Louisville Cardinals at KFC YUM! Center on February 8, 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville won 77-54. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
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Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner has been accused of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed in Arizona. The lawsuit is a counter-lawsuit against Pastner, who sued Ronald Bell and his girlfriend Jennifer Pendley for defamation after the two allegedly tried to extort and blackmail Pastner with information that would damage the head coach’s reputation and make him lose his job at the university. In the counter-lawsuit, Pendley alleges that Pastner assaulted her in a Houston hotel room in February 2016. At the time, Pastner was the coach at Memphis. Pendley claims that while Bell was in the shower, Pastner masturbated in front of her and tried to force her to perform oral sex on him, despite Pendley repeatedly telling Pastner “no” and asking him to stop during the incident. She says she resisted the advance and that Pastner threatened her not to say anything because he and Bell had been friends for more than 20 years while Pendley had been dating him for less than a year and because he was the coach at Memphis. The lawsuit also says that from mid-February 2016 to early March 2016, Pastner harassed Pendley 11 more times, both touching her inappropriately and “whispering obscenities and innuendos” when no one else was around. The suit claims that Pastner would bring up the Houston incident and threaten her to not talk about it. Pastner’s lawyer released a statement, saying that Pastner denies all claims.

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