Indiana University has fired swimming coach Mike Westphal after Bloomington police arrested him last week for intimidation.
IU Athletics said in the statement Thursday Westphal was terminated effective immediately related to an incident detailed in Monroe County court documents.
A probable cause affidavit says the coach of a Bloomington swim club allegedly feared that Westphal would ruin his coaching reputation or physically harm him after they met to discuss merging two local swimming programs.
Police arrested Westphal Aug. 30 on preliminary charges of intimidation, a Class A misdemeanor. Court documents say BTown Aquatics coach Max Irwin told police he was “afraid of Westphal’s intentions” and felt Westphal was threatening him during a meeting at Lennie’s Restaurant in April.
Court documents say the two men were discussing the possible merger of BTown Aquatics and the Indiana Swim Club. It says the merger would “result in better shared pool times and financial gain for Westphal’s interests.” Westphal is on ISC’s Board of Directors.
The document says Irwin recorded the conversation, during which Westphal allegedly said that he had information about an event that occurred when Irwin was a student swimmer involving another coach that, “if now disciplined for this [Irwin] could be stripped of his ability to coach locally, which would drastically [affect] Irwin’s life.”
Westphal was released from the Monroe County Jail after posting bond the same day of his arrest.
IU’s athletics website said Westphal was entering his sixth season as an associate head coach for both the men’s and women’s swimming teams.
