JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — This is an ongoing story. You can read our previous coverage on Ron Grigg here.
The news that longtime Jacksonville University track and field coach Ron Grigg was stepping down Saturday came as a surprise to most.
But for a handful of athletes and a Jacksonville reporter, it was a long time coming.
Local independent journalist Samantha Mathers began digging into claims that the coach verbally abused student athletes last fall. Contacted by student Julia Pernsteiner, she was initially skeptical she could do the story.
"Emotional abuse is real, we know that," Mathers told First Coast News in her first in-depth interview about the story. "We all know that it's as every bit as real as physical abuse, but it doesn't leave any marks, it doesn't leave a black eye, you don't have broken bones. I explained to [Pernsteiner] on that first day that proving that was going to be challenging because it requires a lot of corroboration, it requires documentation, there needs to have been a paper trail for me to follow, have you reported to the school. And she had done all these things already."
Throughout the fall, Pernsteiner contacted former cross-country and track athletes to see if they had similar stories and shared those accounts with school officials. JU says it took the allegations seriously and immediately opened an investigation, but ultimately could not substantiate the abuse allegations.
That's when she turned to the media. Mathers said she corresponded with Pernsteiner a few times in late October. In early November, Pernsteiner took her own life in own dorm room.
Pernsteiner's mother Lynne reached out for answers.
"I just happened to pick up the phone, it was very random," Mathers said. "As soon as she said, 'I'm just trying to get answers about my daughter,' and she explained, I knew exactly what she was talking about, and my heart just fell on the ground."
After the New Year, Mathers began contacting former athletes and those closest to Pernsteiner.
"The moment I knew I had a story was when a former athletic trainer, who didn't have anything bad to say about Grigg ... [said] she had witnessed a lot of the things that they were saying, the body shaming, the anxiety, the athletes had a lot of anxiety. She said that she witnessed that his female athletes had this anxiety about their weight that no other female athletes had at the school. That's the moment I knew I was on to something," she said.
RELATED: Former athlete, parents react to resignation of longtime JU coach amid allegations of abuse
Mather's recently began publishing accounts from some former athletes on her social media pages, including from Jamiah Jackson, who went to JU from 2019-2021.
First Coast News spoke with Jackson on Tuesday.
"I started going to counseling and I wanted to feel better because I know there was a lot that I had on my chest, and I would tell him [Grigg] I'm in counseling," Jackson said. "He was like, 'You know, I keep telling you the same thing. You keep making bad decisions.' ...He made me feel like, 'OK, you're not living right.' I was questioning myself, questioning my character, questioning like who am I? Am I living right? What am I doing wrong? And I really started to convince myself that it was me...I was the person, I was the problem."
Though the allegations were never reported via mainstream media channels, it generated considerable attention and pressure.
On Saturday, Jacksonville University Athletic Director Alex Ricker-Gilbert released a statement that read in part, "the posts and comments have been difficult to read, and they have deeply impacted me and our Dolphin family."
Ricker-Gilbert said the university had opened up a new investigation, and hired an outside firm to conduct the probe.
Grigg has not spoken publicly since stepping down.
First Coast News did speak with Taylor Story, a former track athlete, who voiced her support for Grigg, saying that although he was a stern coach who preached accountability, he was instrumental in her life on and off the track.
Please continue to check First Coast News for further coverage in the coming days. This is a developing story.