Florida men’s basketball coach Todd Golden is reportedly accused of multiple instances of sexual harassment and stalking.
According to Florida’s student newspaper The Alligator, a formal Title IX complaint was filed against Golden on Sept. 27 for alleged breaches of the school’s gender equity policy.
Per the complaint, Golden is accused of making unwanted advances to women on social media and stalking. Those women include Florida students.
The claims regarding sexual harassment, which could also include sexual exploitation, cited unwanted sexual advances on Instagram, requesting sexual favors, sending photos and videos of his genitalia while traveling for UF and various occasions of stalking.
There was allegedly more than one occasion in which Golden was taking photos of women walking or driving and sending those pictures to the subjects involved. Various stalking incidents also included Golden showing up to locations where he knew the women would be.
The report cites two women who had allegedly experienced Golden’s behavior. One of them said she was stalked by Golden “more than 10 times” and that he had sent her pictures of his genitalia.
Golden, 39, is in his third season as Florida’s head coach and his wife is mentioned in his bio on the school website. Florida hired Golden after the 2021-22 season to replace Mike White.
Golden was hired at Florida not long after The Alligator detailed accusations of misconduct against former women’s basketball coach Cameron Newbauer. Newbauer resigned in July of 2021 as players accused him of abusive behavior on numerous occasions. After Newbauer resigned, the school said that it had asked Newbauer for “corrective actions” and that it “did not see the required improvements.” Athletic director Scott Stricklin also said that he ultimately took responsibility for the culture of the women’s basketball program.
Newbauer was the first coach hired by Stricklin after he came from Mississippi State. Stricklin hired Golden and said Thursday that he would be retaining football coach Billy Napier as the Gators are 4-4 with four games left in the season.
Golden took over the men’s basketball program after the team went 20-14 in 2021-22. The Gators were just 16-17 in Golden’s first season. Last season, Florida improved by eight wins and went 24-12 after losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament as a No. 7 seed. This season, the Gators are 2-0 ahead of a game against Grambling on Monday night.
Before coming to Florida, Golden was the head coach at San Francisco for three seasons. The Dons had two winning seasons during his tenure there and made the NCAA tournament in his final season. Before he began his coaching career, Golden played basketball at Saint Mary’s.
