neck and a box cutter to my throat and said i'll kill you right now. >> or his story of being pushed to it? >> you don't know this. someone is pushing me, saying hit me, hit me, either. you don't know that. >> what isn't up for debate is threats recorded on tape. >> bust through your window with a shotgun coming right at you. that's what i should take away, something that matters to you like your mom. >> she woke up i don't know how many times screaming in the night, don't kill my mom, don't kill my mom. >> now, his interrogation tapes. >> i think i said, i'll cut your face up so nobody will ever want you again. >> text messages from his wife. >> i'm asking woman to woman to not make anything worse for us. >> and the mind games she says she had to use to stay safe. >> how could he force you to say "i love you"? >> it's easy when you're trying to protect your life. >> i'm david muir. >> and i'm elizabeth vargas. here now is deborah roberts. >> reporter: this is every track and field star's dream. >> i'm baillie gibson, and i'm a track and field champion. >> reporter: but baillie gibson's story is not one of olympic glory, but rather a twisted tale of a promising athlete, her mercurial coach, and the dark side of college athletics. and it's resulted in criminal charges, lawsuits and countersuits. >> you have to realize the threats he made to me. your only goal is, what can i do to make sure that i live one more day? >> reporter: 26-year-old baillie gibson hails from casper, wyoming. known as much for its oil rigs as for its cowboys. but as a child, baillie would just as soon skip the rodeo and rough-house with her two older brothers. >> a lot of sports and being outside and camping, fishing, you know, all the outdoorsy stuff, volleyball, basketball, track and softball. >> reporter: sports in the family blood? >> definitely in the family blood. i don't know any better, like, >> i love you. >> i love you. >> reporter: her parents, billie joe and bernie gibson, say they always knew their daughter was a gifted athlete, sturdy, supple and strong as a shortstop. but they were as surprised as anyone to see her excel at a tough track event. the shot put. >> she would do track to stay in shape to get ready for softball, and then and coach said, hey, why don't you try throwing? and she threw and they went, oh, you're not a runner. you're a thrower. it just escalated from there. >> the adrenaline you felt before you got in the ring. it was just like a high of like kind of -- it's you. >> baillie gibson, a huge favorite, she throws so far it goes out of the screen. i couldn't keep up with her. >> reporter: in high school, you began to excel. >> all four years i was state champ, and then in shot-put i was three years state champ. >> reporter: a record setter in both the discus and shot-put. >> baillie gibson is going to win the shot-put. she's going deep. 44 feet. >> reporter: espn's john barr has been covering baillie gibson story since last year. >> by the time she was a senior, baillie gibson could throw a discus further than all but one other woman in the entire country. >> gibson firing away, the best in wyoming, ranked second in the nation. >> reporter: what did you think this would start to be for you? >> i had this big huge dream of going to the olympics and how cool it would be. i wanted to work that much harder to make it to the olympics. >> she had the power. she just worked hard every day. she threw. >> you're talking about a girl that when practice is over, it wasn't over for her. she'd stay, and she'd throw, and she'd throw, and she'd throw. it was her life and she loved it. she loved the game, and college recruiters loved her, one in particular. from a division i powerhouse in multiple sports, the university of arizona. >> craig carter came to the home of baillie gibson's parents, sat down, spoke with her, spoke with her parents, and basically explained to them why the university of arizona was a good fit for her. >> baillie's high school coach was one of my athletes, and so, she calls me and says, hey, i got this thrower. and that always helps. i started watching her, and she's probably one of the best athletes i've ever been around. >> reporter: craig karter, how did he come across to you? what did you think of him? >> i thought he was a great guy, he has good family morals. he pretty much said he was going to be like a father figure, like he's going to take care of whatever you need, and help you through anything. >> he says, i'll treat her like she was my daughter. i won't let anything happen to her. it's just something that a father is thinking, well maybe this is good. >> reporter: in fact, coach carter is a married father of four himself. he brings baillie to tuscon, and u of a, for a visit. and you stepped on that campus -- >> that's pretty much where i knew, right when i like got to arizona, i was like oh, i can train all year round. i have a great group of girls that i train was. i was just like, this is the place i want to go. you know when you get to a certain place, where you want to go to school. >> reporter: one of the girls on the team she meets is canadian julie lebonte, who is also recruited by coach carter. what did you think of coach carter when you met him? >> i thought he was a really, really nice guy. he was trying to be very friendly, and since i'm from a french background, he was trying to make little french jokes with celine dion and stuff like that. so, i thought it was pretty funny. >> reporter: julie and baillie hit it off, and coach carter is a hit with both of them. baillie signs on to become an arizona wildcat, and there is cash attached, a full scholarship. coach carter would later boast how he lobbied his boss to get her on the team. >> you know, to be able to get her was huge. i kept telling him, man, this girl's going to be good. >> reporter: when she first arrives at u of a in fall 2010, baillie's laser focused on athletics, spending all her time practicing and weight training. she even picks up a new event, the hammer. >> they're all better than you. so you're like, okay, i got to step my game up. i got to practice harder because i wanted to be good. i wanted to be great. >> reporter: what about the relationship with coach carter? how was that building as you were getting to know him? >> it was really good my first year and a half. he was very supportive. he was always there. >> i can teach you girls how to golf. it's just like throwing the hammer. >> there you go. >> yeah. >> through the low point. >> reporter: but it's during that second year that baillie and some teammates say they noticed a dramatic change in their coach, like fits of anger and a short fuse. >> he had a lot of mood swings, and then he would bounce back from one emotion to another emotion. >> he just got angrier, like, he would get upset if we would talk, like about the weekend or something in practice. >> reporter: so, he was having these mood swings and they were pretty intense, right? >> carter was withdrawn, he would just go through these dark periods. and then, they said, he would go through these periods where he was joking around with them and fully engaged. and you never knew which craig carter was going to show up. >> reporter: julie says the female throwers become so fed up with coach carter's erratic behavior, they complained to his boss, head coach fred harvey, and at a team meeting called out carter's actions directly to his face. >> you tell us you're a father figure, but we don't need a father figure. you know, we have a father. we need a coach. >> reporter: and how did he react during this meeting? >> he was really upset and then he started crying, and he was very unstable and emotional. >> he just blamed that he was having a really bad family life. him and his wife were fighting, and so, it was like, pity him. >> reporter: teammates say an apology follows, with promises to be better. but baillie is about to find out, coach carter is a man of many broken promises and dark impulses. next. at&t has a network with thousands of best-in-class security experts. which means... more of the eye balls you want watching the network... & less of the ones you don't... more experts preventing security issues & less security threats impacting our customers. more of a highly secure network with more security products available for further protection & less per month than comcast for business internet. switch to at&t internet for business. more & less - that's the power of &. ♪ ♪ with the chase mobile app, michaela deprince could pay practically anyone, at any bank, all while performing a grand jeté between two grand pianos. she could... in a commercial. in real life she uses it to pay her sister, from her couch, for that sweater she stained. what sweater? (phone buzzes) life, lived michaela's way. chase. make more of what's yours. >> reporter: it's the spring of 2012. hundreds of the country's top tier athletes are in you yeen, oregon, nicknamed tracktown usa, to compete for the chance to represent the red, white and blue. and maybe, one day, capture gold. >> the olympic trials, this is where the best of the best in amateur athletes come to compete to try to punch their tickets to go to the olympic games. >> reporter: 20-year-old arizona wildcat baillie gibson is one of them. but baillie's coming off a year marked by injury and disappointment, and her performance is less than memorable. coming in a distant 12th in the discus and ninth in the shot-put. >> i didn't do as well as i had wanted. >> she knew she had a lot more potential there. so, she was disappointed with her performance, definitely. >> reporter: what happens next is still a subject of intense dispute, controversy and pain. here is what bailee told us happened at after the competition ends. writhing from the agony of defeat, baillie joins other teammates at a house party. now, had you all been drinking? >> yes. >> reporter: how intoxicated were you? >> i didn't think i was bad at all, like at all. i mean, yeah i'd been drinking, but it wasn't a lot, and i don't know, because it was like, red solo cups, you know. >> reporter: her friends want to hit the bars, but baillie, underage and under the influence, makes a different call. to her coach, craig karter. why did you call him? >> because that's what everyone told me to do and what a lot of other athletes do, is you call the coach. >> reporter: she says coach carter quickly comes to get her. she would later admit she was drunk and says getting in his car is the last thing she remembers. >> and i get in the car and then we're driving, and then all of a sudden, i don't know what happens. >> reporter: the next day she sees her coach at the airport, and if a hangover and those disappointing standings weren't heavy enough, baillie says coach carter is sending her back to tucson with baggage of a very different kind, humiliating and shocking. >> he's like, how do you feel? and i was like, other than a huge headache, i feel fine. and he's like, well, you don't remember last night? no, not at all. >> reporter: she says carter tells her they had sex in the backseat of his car, and what's more, he's got the pictures to prove it. what were the pictures? give me a sense of what you saw of yourself. >> me laying there with no clothes on. in the backseat of a car. >> reporter: so they were pictures of him having sex with you. >> yeah, intercourse. >> reporter: what's your reaction when he's showing these pictures to you? >> i want to puke. i'm like devastated. >> reporter: what did he say to you next? >> he's like, if you tell anyone, like, i'll send these pictures out and show what a whore you are, and a slut. >> reporter: and you believed him? >> yeah, because i didn't know anything else. i didn't want my body to be everywhere, or to lose my scholarship and go back to my hometown feeling like a failure. >> reporter: she says the four-hour flight back to tucson's a blur. and when she returns to campus, she says it's not just the fear over her coach's alleged threats keeping her up at night, there's also shame. >> i thought it was my fault. i was, like, what did i do? why would i ever do that? that's not who i am. that's not what i'm, like, about. >> reporter: does it occur to you to maybe call your parents? >> i wanted to. but i was scared what they would think. i don't want to look bad in their eyes. >> reporter: but coach carter tells a remarkably different story about the nature of their relationship and how it began -- he says baillie initiated, instigated and actively pursued a sexual relationship with him, alleging she viewed him as a prized conquest. >> she's like, yeah, i just want to have sex whenever you want -- like, just have sex just for fun. >> reporter: soon, he says, the sex talk turns into action. a physical, consensual relationship. but however it began, it's not going to end well. baillie heads home to wyoming for the summer. for what she hopes will be a respite from the remorse and regret. but even 1,000 miles away, she claims carter is making insidious demands, insisting she text nude pictures of herself or else he'll share those compromising photos. that summer, you didn't say anything to your parents? >> no. >> reporter: and is it difficult for you keeping that secret? >> yeah. it's hard when you can't tell the people you love what's really going on with you. >> reporter: then, when she arrives back on campus, she says coach carter calls her to his office. >> he's like, you didn't tell anyone? no, i didn't tell anybody. and he's like, good, because we're going to have sex a lot more. and i was like, i don't want that. >> reporter: are you thinking of maybe reporting him to the university? maybe calling the police? >> i thought about that. what are they going to say? well, you wanted it. >> reporter: you're thinking it's his word against yours. >> yeah, he's got the power. >> reporter: how often were you seeing each other sexually? >> like twice, three times a week. he would send a text, 7:00 team office. >> reporter: carter would insist there was a genuine emotional bond between them. >> i don't know how he didn't pick up that i did not want him. >> reporter: back in wyoming, baillie's parents are concerned when their third year college student is sunday suddenly and inexplicably homesick. >> she started to want to come home a lot. she would show up. surprise. and i thought, well, she just needs to come home. she misses home. but then when she would get a phone call in the middle of the visit and she would run into the other room. like, who is that? she says it's coach. i said, so what's the coach saying? he's got to talk to me telling me my workouts. i just shrugged it off and thought it was kind of weird. >> reporter: did you see any changes? did she seem her usual self around that time and after that time? >> well, i noticed she was a little bit more, like, down on herself. chef was not as, like, the smiley baillie i knew. >> reporter: how was her relationship with coach carter, anything different? >> they would butt heads a lot. she would say, okay, i'm not allowed to talk right now at practice. he told me i'm not allowed to smile and i thought that was very, very weird. >> reporter: the coach told her she's not allowed to smile? >> yes. that was weird to me because he didn't say anything along those lines to any of the other athletes. >> reporter: coming up, baillie says she finds a courage to call a halt to the arrangement, but her coach won't take no for an answer. he grabbed you and put a box cutter to your throat? >> yes. >> reporter: what's going on in your mind? >> i'm not going to make it alive. >> reporter: stay with us. >> reporter: this looks like an ordinary office but baillie gibson claims that for more than two years, it was a place of torture, where her coach, craig carter, cohearsed her into countless sexual encounters. baillie tells no one. despair creeping into every part of her life. she turns to food to help here cope. >> i ate. that's kind of my comfort, is eating. and i got heavier and i didn't really sleep a lot, so, i was very depressed. i had to act some what normal, but inside, i was just dying. >> reporter: what was the lowest point for you? >> when i was totally done with, like, everything. i didn't want to be an olympian anymore. i didn't want to do track. i didn't want to go out with my friends. i didn't want to do anything. >> reporter: then, by happenstance, the secret begins to unravel. >> in november of 2013, a female track and field staffer knocked on craig carter's office door. it was locked. he took a long time to come to the door, and when he finally did emerge, his clothing was disheveled, and baillee gibson was sitting on a couch in his office. she grew concerned that something inappropriate was going on inside the office, and so, she reported it. >> reporter: whether consensual or otherwise, it is strictly forbidden, according to the university of arizona policy, which states no university employee shall engage in a romantic or sexual relationship with a student, and any violation of this policy is subject to disciplinary action, including discharge. >> craig carter was called into a meeting on november 5th of 2013 with his head coach, fred harvey, and the athletic director at the time, greg burn. espn investigative reporter john barr obtained this memo where school attorneys advised byrne, the athletic director, to say the following to carter. "coach, we have received reports of information that may indicate you are having or had a romantic or sexual relationship with a student athlete on the team." >> in the column of the notes, he writes, baillie gibson. >> reporter: byrne wouldn't comment for this report, but during that november 2013 meeting, coach carter lies, adamantly denying a sexual relationship with baillie gibson to his sue sere yours. there was no further investigation of him. >> according to craig carter, that meeting was the last of it. he denied it, and that's where it ended. they never asked to see his phone that was issued by the university. they never looked at this university e-mail account. but they asked craig carter, what will baillie tell us if we talk to her about what happened? >> reporter: what will baillie say? turns out, she says carter got to her before the university did. >> craig called me and said, hey, someone saw something, you better not answer anything. he's like, don't say anything. >> reporter: so, the coach is telling you not to cooperate. don't say anything. >> yeah. and if you do, tell them that i was just comforting you that day. >> reporter: so, the university now is aware of this relationship. do they contact you? >> they e-mailed me, but they did not confront me in person at all. >> reporter: here are the two e-mails baillie says were sent from the school's ant anti-harassment office, informing her they received a report that she may be involved in a personal relationship with an employee of the university, and listing campus resources she could contact if she wants assistance. baillie never responds. you don't reply. >> no. >> reporter: why not? >> well, how am i supposed to? he told me not to. he knew that the e-mail was coming. >> reporter: but this is a chance for you to blow the whistle on them. >> but what if i do, and he decides to retaliate? am i going to be protected? >> reporter: but instead of messaging the university, baillee continues messaging her coach, not only about practice, but something much more graphic, explicit images of herself. carter claims she sent him dozens of naked pictures and pornographic videos. why are you doing that? because to some people, this looks like a girl who is trying to come onto her coach. >> because it's easier for me to do that than actually have to have intercourse with him, and if he liked what i sent, then i didn't have to have intercourse with him. >> reporter: so, this was purely a sexual relationship based on blackmail. >> yes. >> reporter: for the next 16 months, baillie says she continues to suffer in silence until she reaches a breaking point and begins sobbing in this campus parking lot with her best friend and teammate, julie labonte. >> i asked her, why are you crying? because she's a very, very strong woman. usually she doesn't show a lot of emotion. so i knew that deep down there was something going on. >> reporter: julie keeps pressing. was it a relative, an ex-boyfriend? >> and then i mentioned craig's name, and she started crying even more. then that's when she told me he had naked pictures of her. if you say anything, something bad will happen to you. >> reporter: in is your best friend revealing to you that she's essentially been blackmailed into sex. >> it was very, very tragic. i was in shock. i was so mad. i'm her best friend and i lived with her, and i didn't see those signs. >> reporter: but instead of going to the authorities, baillie decides to confront coach carter herself. >> reach for the bucket like i'm telling baillie. >> reporter: it's less than a month away from garage wags, and she says she decides to tell coach carter's longer give into his sexual demands. >> i go to his office, and i say, i'm not going to do this anymore. you can hurt me, but i'm not going to be this person to you anymore. like, i'm done. i said i've never loved you, and he got mad, and that's when he put his hands around my neck, with a box cutter to my throat, said, i'll kill you right now. >> reporter: he grabbed you and put a box cutter to your throat? >> yes. >> reporter: what's going on in your mind? >> i'm not going to make it alive if you don't say what he wants me to. >> reporter: baillie says she'd never seen that aggressive behavior in her coach, and decides the only way to avert disaster is to back down and apologize. >> i knew if i didn't say i'm sorry, then i would die right there. >> reporter: next, coach carter goes from a box cutter to a shotgun. >> i know exactly where you're going to be, every day. with a shotgun loaded coming right at you? >> reporter: but baillie gibson's armed with a powerful weapon of her own. a cell phone. when "20/20" returns. >> reporter: 2015. baillie gibson and her fellow shot-put thrower julie labonte are roommates living alone in this off campus house. but they're about to get company. >> he came to the house and he was knocking on our door. >> reporter: it's their volatile track coach, craig carter. remember, the evening before, he allegedly threatened baillie with a box cutter. what was he saying? >> we acted like we weren't there. but he knew we were, because he was sending me texts, like, i'm outside, you haven't left your house since 6:00 a.m., i know you're inside. you better answer. you better come answer. and he was walking around our house. every single window he tried, every single door. >> reporter: what was he saying when he's out there? >> i'm in front of your home, you better have your gun because i brought mine. and then we're very, very scared so we're actually going around the house just to make sure everything is locked. we're like, "is he going to bust out the door and come in and then shoot us?" >> reporter: the two terrified young women barricade themselves in the bathroom. while baillie gets text messages from carter like this. >> you tell the cops and i won't end well for you. >> reporter: how scared were you? >> scared. we sat in the bathroom, we were both crying. we didn't have anything to protect ourselves. >> reporter: were you afraid you were going to die? >> yes. >> reporter: did you think of calling the police at that moment? you're in the house, he's outside circling the house. why didn't you just call the police? >> could they really protect me? in an e-mail he says, you think the cops can get to you faster than i can? if i'm breaking through your house and i have a gun loaded coming at you, you think they're going to save you? >> reporter: she says after about an hour of prowling around outside the house, carter finally leaves. and soon issues a warning shot of sorts. >> later that same day, craig carter sent a text to baillie gibson, with what appeared to be a gun barrel in his mouth and the message, "bye, i love you." now he later said that it wasn't a gun barrel, it was just a pipe. but if you're baillie gibson in that moment, i'm sure it was unnerving, to say the least. >> reporter: then about 30 minutes later another text. >> i didn't have the balls to pull the trigger. you win. >> reporter: for baillie's best friend, julie, it is the breaking point. she's had enough. and decides it's time, time she says they turn the tables on their tormentor of a track coach. she helps baillie hatch a plan to secretly record him. >> i told baillie, i'm like, this is not right what he's saying. you should take your phone honestly and record this and send that to the authorities. >> reporter: you wanted her to have evidence? >> yes. >> reporter: so, when karter angrily calls julie's phone looking for bailey, they secretly hit the record button. >> the only way i could get your attention if i [ bleep ] threatened. here i'm the bad guy, because i threatened. >> you should have never put your hands on me. >> well, actually i probably should have killed you. >> reporter: for more than an hour, carter threatening and desperate. >> i wanted your attention. i wanted you to love me. you were [ bleep ] a game with me the whole time. that is wrong, man. i'm going to make you pay. i know exactly where you're going to be. every day. so don't tell me that you're going to call the cops. because when are you going to call? when i bust through your window, with a shotgun loaded, coming right at you, you going to call them real fast? i just want to hold the pistol to your head, you or me -- and then what? i guess you would have to blow me away, right? should we try that? >> it was an incredible phone call in that he made several damning threats. craig carter, more than anything, is trying to get baillie gibson to meet him one last time for a sexual encounter. >> i make sure i [ bleep ] you one more time. >> reporter: baillie agrees to meet her coach later that week but carter doesn't leave her alone. instead, sending her a series of hostile e-mails. >> i'm like a mountain lion who stalks his prey before he kills. we will see if you're smart enough to do what's right, or what will cost you your life. >> craig carter's action were not rational by any measure. this is a guy who was coming unhinged and the e-mails he sent to baillie were so graphic and so disturbing, unlike anything i've ever seen a coach send an athlete. >> reporter: then, two days later, coach carter ambushes her outside one of her classes. >> i turn around and he's right behind me and had this smirk on his face, like, i caught you. i said, i don't want to talk to you. and he grabbed my arm, and he said, you can either do this the easy way or the hard way. >> reporter: it's a mistake. there are plenty of witnesses. one student even calling 911. >> university police this is claudia. >> one person is harassing another student. >> she's being harassed by a male? >> yes. >> he was saying some things, like, you need to leave here with me, and, like, trying to pull her away. >> reporter: thanks to that 911 call, campus police are now actively investigating. >> so, at that point, the university of arizona was coming to grips with the fact that one of its coaches had issued some serious, serious threats to a student athlete. >> reporter: but it doesn't prevent carter from sending baillie ominous e-mail. >> you just dug your grave. >> reporter: baillie says she had become numb to his threats, but this one is unlike any other. >> that's what i should take away, something that matters to you like your mom. i don't have to hurt you, i can hurt somebody else that means a lot to you. >> i could have cared less if he killed me, but the point when he brought in my family and friends -- that was the main part where i was like, that can't happen. >> reporter: finally, baillie calls her mother and reveals her deep secret. >> i was crying. i told her everything at that point. i'm -- i'm so distraught, i was like, i just want you to love me, i don't want you to think bad of me. >> reporter: she arranges to meet up with her parents at a relative's home in las vegas. >> i just held her and she cried. that night, we went to bed, and she woke up, i don't know how many times screaming in the night. it was, "don't kill my mom, don't kill my mom." >> she said, i didn't tell you, because i didn't want you to quit loving me. that's hard. >> reporter: next, coach carter is in the interrogation room. turning the tables. >> she was the one that was, you know, kind of coming on to me. >> reporter: and surprising texts from baillie that appear to bolster his claim. >> reporter: to some people, that sounds like a young girl who maybe has a crush on her coach. stay with us. ♪ ♪ with the chase mobile app, michaela deprince could pay practically anyone, at any bank, all while performing a grand jeté between two grand pianos. she could... in a commercial. in real life she uses it to pay her sister, from her couch, for that sweater she stained. what sweater? (phone buzzes) life, lived michaela's way. chase. make more of what's yours. on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort, your sleep number setting. does your bed do that? right now, our queen c2 mattress is only $699, save $200. ends soon. visit sleepnumber.com for a store near you. >> reporter: renowned college coach craig carter is used to being in a position of authority. but on this day, he's answering to authorities the. arrested and later charged with assaulting college athlete baillie gibson. >> the arizona track and field coach accused of stalking and assaulting an athlete. >> reporter: after years of silence, baillie had finally given the police an account of the sordid saga. and now, in the interrogation room, coach carter is making shocking admissions. >> you know, we had sex and -- and more sex. >> reporter: fully admitting not only to a sexual relationship -- >> how many times a week? >> once, maybe twice, but that was not every week, you know. >> reporter: -- but also to attacking baillie with that box cutter. >> you said you had a box cutter. >> i think i said, i'll cut your face up to nobody will ever want you again. >> reporter: he offers an explanation. >> i told her when we got in that fight, i was like, you're the devil. [ bleep ] you. you ruined a family. >> reporter: and as for their relationship? he maintains that she started it. >> i have to say, it's all my fault, but yet, she was the one that was, you know, kind of coming onto me. and i never been with another woman in my life besides my wife, and i -- i just -- i don't know, i just felt like i fell in love. i don't know. >> there was a point on the video where the detective left the interrogation room and left carter alone. [ crying ] >> he must have been starting to grasp just what he had done and what the consequences would be. >> reporter: but during the investigation, some striking messages that baillie sent to carter begin to emerge, raising questions about the nature of their relationship. messages like this one. "i was falling in love with you. i don't just fall in love. that is because i'm sick and need the correct help. we both need to be fixed." that doesn't sound like a girl who is being forced into a sexual relationship. >> but you have to realize that if i didn't say those things, he would try to hurt me. >> reporter: to some people, that sounds like a young girl, maybe who's got a crush on her coach. >> yeah. it's not, though. it's clearly me saying what i have to, so he doesn't either hurt me or hurt anyone else around me. >> reporter: but you understand how to some people -- >> oh, yeah, i definitely understand. >> reporter: it sounds like a consensual relationship. >> yeah. and i do understand that. >> reporter: some people would ask you, how could he force you to say "i love you"? >> well, it's easy when you're trying to protect your life. >> reporter: another puzzling detail? turns out, when bailee finally told campus police about her situation, they understand it to have begun as a consensual relationship, and bailee first told them it all began on campus before those olympic trials. she now says what she told us happened in oregon is, in fact, the true story. within two weeks, carter is indicted by an arizona grand jury on four felony counts including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and stalking. he pleads not guilty, but curiously, no sexual assault charges are filed. >> these prosecutors clearly believe they can prove the stalking. they can prove the box cutter incident. but sexual assault would be a tougher argument for them to win. >> reporter: craig carter is released from jail on bond and resigns from his coaching job, just as baillie returns to arizona to graduate. but she says the excitement of the day is overshadowed by fear. what are you thinking as you're getting your diploma? >> please don't let him be in the crowd and shoot me on the stage. please can i just walk across it and get my diploma and be safe? >> reporter: the college graduate's special day comes and goes without any carter contact. but at one point, she does receive a text. this one, not from carter, but from his wife. what did she say? >> she said, will you just please stop this, you know he's a good guy. >> reporter: joanne carter pleading with baillie texts, "i know of craig's actions, of which i'm sorry. and i'm asking, woman to woman, to not make anything worse for us." she's apparently standing by her man, even after her husband admits to a nearly three-year long sexual relationship with a student. >> even if this was consensual, him being coach and her being student makings it a violation, certainly of ncaa rules and potentially worse. there's no question that this relationship in and of itself was an abusive power. by him towards her. >> reporter: six months after carter's arrest, baillie files a civil suit, alleging that carter committed acts of rain, and that the university of arizona failed to protect her from inappropriate sexual conduct. >> the essence of her argument against coach carter is, you did this to me. the essence of the argument against everyone else is, you could have and should have stopped this. >> reporter: reporter john barr investigated the story for espn's "outside the lines". >> we spoke to a number of different attorneys who specialize in title ix issues, and all of them agree that the university of arizona just did the bare minimum when i had information that there was something inappropriate going on. >> reporter: and arizona residents may be especially interested in this tidbit. because u of a is a state school, they're obligated to foot the bill defending that civil suit, including carter's defense. over $750,000 to date. >> you can understand why taxpayers in the state of arizona are saying, what? we have to help foot his bill? >> reporter: in a statement to abc news, the university of arizona said it took immediate action after baillie spoke up about carter and it and the athletics department condemn his behavior and the impact it had on a student. coming up -- >> you admitted to grabbing her and threatening her with a box cutter. >> you don't know that she got in my face and pushing me and saying, hit me, hit me, either. >> reporter: in a stunning interview when we come back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ craig, this is john barr calling from espn. >> reporter: embattled former college coach craig carter declines to talk to us on camera about the baillie gibson case, but he does speak with espn's john barr on the phone. >> do you feel like you've been portrayed unfairly in the media? >> oh, yeah. they're portraying me to be this guy that raped this girl for three years, when all along it was consensual. i've read a bunch of this crap, and 90% of it is garbage. >> are you denying that you sexually assaulted her? >> oh, 100%. >> reporter: what did you make of that conversation? >> well, he was surprisingly candid. he didn't deny that he had a sexual relationship with baillie gibson, but he maintained that it started as a consensual relationship and continued as a consensual relationship. he acknowledged that he put his hands on baillie gibson that day in his office. craig, it's my understanding you admitted to grabbing her and threatening her with a box cutter. >> i don't deny it, no. but as far as touching her, i never touched her in any life until that day. you don't know that she got in my face and was pushing me and saying, hit me, hit me, hit me, either. you don't know that. now you do. ask her about it. how she got in my face, and yelled, hit me, hit me, hit me and then shoved me. >> reporter: baillie denies provoking her coach. carter also admits that he violated arizona school policy. >> you were not supposed to have any kind of relationship with a student athlete. >> yeah, well, people mess up. >> reporter: what about those pictures? she says that he held these pictures over her head. >> he absolutely denies that he blackmailed her. >> reporter: but carter is doing more than just denying sexual assault. he's lobbing accusations back at baillie, countersuing the former athlete for defaming him. >> craig carter has filed a counter lawsuit against baillie gibson, alleging that she initiated, and enthusiastically pursued, a sexual relationship with him, with the intention of destroying his career and family. >> reporter: they're saying that you're lying. that you aggressively pursued him, knowing that you were going to wreck his career and wreck his family life. they're blaming you. >> yeah. it's ridiculous. how can i wreck his marriage when he knows what he's doing? i've never, ever, had an affection feeling towards that man. ever. >> reporter: as he continues his fight in court, carter is now living with his family back in utah, awaiting trial with no monitoring bracelet. and as for baillie, though they're hundreds of miles apart, she's constantly looking over her shoulder. >> i'm still depressed. i still have my hard times. i'm back home and i see a car that looks like his and my heart stops. he could come to my home anytime. >> reporter: a broken young woman, a would-be champion, now fighting just to survive. >> if you would have asked me at the beginning what my life was going to be life, i would have said i was going to be an olympian? now what is my life going to be like? i hope to just live another day. >> the upcoming criminal trial begins next march. he has pleaded not guilty. i'm david muir. >> i'm elizabeth vargas. for all of us at "20/20" and abc news, have a great night and a great weekend. your to-do list if yjust keeps growing. me, (laughs desperately) it never stops. which is why the online financing application at carmax.com is so convenient. get some of that finance stuff out of the way from wherever you are, at the doctor's office, karate practice or my favorite... back at the doctor's office. knowing before you go means more quality time sewing a costume for the school play that is not going to look anything like a frog. just a little heads-up, mrs. davis... ha ha ha, yay kids!

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