A former swimming coach at Northern Arizona University was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to 12 counts of sexual abuse and four counts of sexual misconduct with members of a girls' team that used the university's pool. The former coach, Charles Arabas, had been accused of similar abuses at Truman State University. Truman had agreed to give him a positive job recommendation in exchange for his resignation.

Mr. Arabas, the former manager of Northern Arizona's aquatics center, was arrested in November 2002, after seven girls of a local club told the police that he had touched them inappropriately. He later resigned from the university post.

He had come to Northern Arizona in 1993, after similar accusations at Truman State. Students alleged he had touched them in a sexually abusive manner while giving them massages after swim practices.

Truman agreed to a deal under which Mr. Arabas would not file a lawsuit against his accusers, as long as the university considered the final question of the charges against him unresolved and provided "positive recommendations" about his work to prospective employers, according to a letter written by a university administrator that was obtained by prosecutors in Arizona.

At his sentencing hearing last week, a number of supporters defended Mr. Arabas, 48, and he insisted that he is innocent, according to the Associated Press. He said he had agreed to plead guilty to avoid the risks of a jury trial, which might have resulted in a life sentence.

During a 35-minute speech before the court, Mr. Arabas said that the news media and the prosecution had painted a distorted picture of him. The girls had made false accusations because they did not get the attention they wanted, he said.

"People say I'm in denial," the AP quoted him as saying. "I don't think I'm in denial."

John D. Haeger, president of Northern Arizona, said on Sunday that the university had made no public statement about the case.