All-American track athlete reveals how her college coach 'blackmailed her into a sexual relationship and threatened to cut her face up and kill her'

  • Baillie Gibson, a two-time NCAA Outdoor All-American, competed in track and field as a scholarship student at the University of Arizona
  • Gibson claims former assistant track coach Craig Carter took sexually explicit photos of her in 2012 following a party 
  • She alleges he used those images to blackmail her into having a relationship with him and threatened to kill her in text messages and emails
  • Carter no longer works for the school and was arrested in 2015 on suspicion of domestic violence, aggravated assault and several other charges 
  • His criminal trial will begin on August 1 and if convicted on all counts, Carter faces up to 29 ½ years in prison 

A former University of Arizona track and field athlete has opened up about how her Olympic dreams were dashed after allegedly being blackmailed for three years into a sexual relationship with her coach. 

Baillie Gibson, a two-time NCAA Outdoor All-American and 2011 NCAA Indoor All-American, told ESPN that former UA assistant track coach Craig Carter, who is married with four children, blackmailed her into having an affair that lasted nearly three years. 

Gibson claims after she competed in Eugene, Oregon with the team at the US track and field Olympic trials in June 2012, they went out for a night on the town. 

The then-20-year-old said she recalled Carter telling the team members to contact him if they needed a ride or if they had been drinking too much. 

Gibson called Carter for a ride back to the hotel the team was staying at.  

'I remember getting in the car, and then I don't remember really what else happened,' Gibson told ESPN.

She claims the next morning Carter showed her nude photos of herself that were taken on his cellphone as well as the two engaging in sexual acts inside his car.  

Baillie Gibson (above), a two-time NCAA Outdoor All-American and 2011 NCAA Indoor All-American, told ESPN that former UA assistant track coach Craig Carter, who is married with four children, blackmailed her into having an affair that lasted nearly three years.
Former UA assistant track coach Craig Carter is pictured in his arrest photo

Baillie Gibson (left), a two-time NCAA Outdoor All-American and 2011 NCAA Indoor All-American, told ESPN that former UA assistant track coach Craig Carter (right), who is married with four children, blackmailed her into having an affair that lasted nearly three years

'I wanted to throw up,' Gibson said. 'How could I do that? How does he have that?'

Gibson claims that Carter threatened to assault her and share the photos with relatives and on the internet if she didn't continue satisfying him sexually.

'He was going to post all of the pictures online so everyone could see what a whore I was,' Gibson said. 

'He just said that I would lose my scholarship and I would have all these pictures out and it was going to be bad if I said anything.'

She claims that Carter threatened her with death and rape threats through phone calls, emails and text messages for years. 

One of those text messages, according to Gibson, reads: 'If the cops are called it won't matter. I will pull my gun on them so they kill me but not before I let every f***ing person that you know what you have done to me.'

'In one email, Carter allegedly wrote Gibson: 'I was watching you. I'm like a mountain lion, who stalks his pray (sic) before he kills.'

In another email, Carter allegedly threatened to 'f**k' her up so bad and then kill himself.

'Hey you f***ing c***, what's it going to be. I going to f*** you up so bad and then blow my head off,' the message reads, according to ESPN. 

'You will look so bad when I'm done with you but still be alive so you have to suffer everyday like I am or would. 

'I will cut your face up.... Be ready, have your gun ready because your going to need it.' 

As her time at the college was coming to a close, Gibson confronted Carter. 

Gibson (pictured) claims that Carter took sexually explicit photos of her in 2012 following a party and used those images to blackmail her into having a relationship with him

Gibson (pictured) claims that Carter took sexually explicit photos of her in 2012 following a party and used those images to blackmail her into having a relationship with him

'He jumped up and he grabbed my shirt and I pulled and then he pulled the front end like where my bra and like upper shirt was, pulled it and then like put me on the couch,' Gibson later told police on May 1, 2015, according to ESPN. 

'Put his hands around my neck, or his hand around my neck and then the razor blade was in his right hand because he was facing me, but in his right hand and he said, 'I should just cut your face up and cut your eyes so that no one can see those pretty eyes.'

Her account continued: 'And he was choking me but I was like, I felt my head was like filling with blood. And it was like, it was starting where I couldn't breathe and then he like let go and then he kind of collapsed on my side and like started crying.'

She explained that she tried to leave his office at the McKale Center, but he blocked her and told her he wouldn't be able to go on without her.

'I'm going to kill myself, and you're going to watch it,' Carter said, according to Gibson's statement to police.

He did deny that the incident took place with authorities. However, he denied the circumstances as to why he did it. 

'I'm in a lot of trouble,' Carter said. 'I never touched her in my life, until that day … There's no excuse to do that, there's really no excuse. But I was told, you know, a lot of things for three years … and you don't know that she got in my face and was pushing me and saying, 'Hit me! Hit me! Hit me!''

Carter joined UA in 2007 and was even named the National Women's Assistant Coach of the year in 2011. 

He resigned from UA weeks after he was arrested in 2015 on suspicion of domestic violence, aggravated assault and several other charges. 

Carter claims the relationship with Gibson was consensual and that Gibson, in fact, initiated the encounter.

'It's gonna be amazing when all this comes out, because they got all the forensic stuff off my phone, and the conversation about us hooking up that night is all on the phone,' Carter told ESPN. 

Gibson (above) filed a lawsuit against Carter, head track coach Fred Harvey, former UA athletic director Greg Byrne, The University of Arizona and the Arizona Board of Regents in late 2015

Gibson (above) filed a lawsuit against Carter, head track coach Fred Harvey, former UA athletic director Greg Byrne, The University of Arizona and the Arizona Board of Regents in late 2015

The former athlete filed a lawsuit against Carter, head track coach Fred Harvey, former UA athletic director Greg Byrne, The University of Arizona and the Arizona Board of Regents in late 2015, according to tucsonnewsnow.com

Carter and his wife filed a counter-suit early last year claiming she made a false statement and caused emotional distress. 

His criminal trial will begin on August 1 and if convicted on all counts, Carter faces up to 29 ½ years in prison.

'I still look over my shoulder. I still see a car that he had, even here in Wyoming, and I think it's him and my heart stops,' she told ESPN. 

'It's been almost two years now, and he still can roam around and do whatever he wants, and it's not OK. 

'I mean, how am I ever going to feel like I'm safe if justice isn't done? He took away my life. He took away my college years. He took everything away from me.' 

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