Last month, Josh Pastner sued an Oro Valley couple, saying they defamed and attempted to extort him. A counterclaim, filed by Pasnter's former friends in Pima County Superior Court on Thursday, claims the former UA player and coach sexually assaulted one of them. Pastner issued a statement through his lawyer on Thursday denying all claims.Β
Ron Bell and Jennifer Pendley say that in February 2016, Pastner forced Pendley into a sex act while in a Houston hotel room, according to the counterclaim to a lawsuit Pastner filed against the couple last month. Pendley has not reported the allegations to police, but said Thursday that she is considering filing charges. Pendley also claims that Pastner threatened harm if she reported the incidents to police. Pastner told her, according to the suit, that he knew powerful people who would make her life "a living hell."Β
Pastner's lawyer, Scott Tompsett, issued a statement shortly after the filing, denying the sexual assault and calling Pendley's claim "malicious."
"There was no sexual assault," the statement said. "It is a lie."
Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner.
Pendley reported the alleged assault to her doctor a year later, the suit states, and the doctor subsequently referred her to a counselor and psychiatrist. She told Bell about the assault in October, according to the suit. On Dec. 20, Pendley sent notice of the alleged sexual assault and battery to Pastner and his attorneys, according to the counterclaim.
Thursday's suit comes one month after Pastner filed an defamation suit, claiming the couple repeatedly attempted to blackmail and extort him. Pastner is in his second season as Georgia Tech's head coach following a long tenure at Memphis.Β
Before Georgia Tech, Pastner, 40, coached at Memphis from 2009-16. He spent the 2002-08 seasons as an assistant to Arizonaβs Lute Olson. As a player, Pastner was a member of the Wildcatsβ 1997 National Championship team.
