Anna Hansen

Middleton High School’s former head football coach has filed a lawsuit against the Middleton-Cross Plains School District over his resignation last year.

Jason Pertzborn, who resigned from coaching and teaching at the district in 2023 amid a hazing investigation involving the football team, filed the lawsuit Monday, alleging that the district “lied to, threatened and intimidated” him to pressure him into signing a resignation agreement.

The Middleton Police Department launched an investigation into the Middleton High School football team in early January of last year. A 22-page incident report provided to the Wisconsin State Journal through an open records request indicated that football players allegedly urinated on a fellow teammate, tried to grab his genitals in the shower, urged him to “kill himself” and engaged in additional hazing and bullying so severe one student worried the bullied player might harm himself or others.