DEVASTATING

College Coach ‘Humiliated,’ ‘Fat-Shamed’ Runner Before Suicide, Family Alleges

Julia Pernsteiner’s family is suing the Florida university, alleging that she was berated regularly and called “retarded” before she was dropped from the team.

The parents of a Jacksonville University cross country runner who killed herself are suing the school and their daughter’s former coach. Julia Pernsteiner died in her dorm room in November 2021, less than a year after she transferred to Jacksonville after she was recruited by Coach Ron Grigg. The wrongful-death lawsuit by Ray and Lynne Pernsteiner claims the Florida university was negligent in their failure to follow Title IX protections against sex discrimination, as well as not properly accommodating their daughter Julia’s learning disability. Two months before her death, Grigg had dismissed her from the cross country team, according to the lawsuit, which says the coach created “a toxic atmosphere of humiliation and intimidation” in which he “fat-shamed” and insulted runners. He also called Pernsteiner “retarded,” the lawsuit alleges. Pernsteiner needed additional academic help as a result of her learning disability, but the school didn’t meet American Disability Act requirements, and her grades began to suffer, the lawsuit alleges. A month before she died, Pernsteiner emailed the university’s athletic director and told him she was “more than heartbroken” she’d been booted from the team. “I just don’t know where to go from here,” her email read. She received no response, according to the lawsuit, and a month later, Pernsteiner killed herself. Grigg resigned in July 2022 after Athletic Director Alex Ricker-Gilbert reported the school had received “concerning information” about his treatment of student-athletes.