Sports
Report: Title IX complaint filed against Florida men’s basketball coach Todd Golden for sexual harassment
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 that 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 him after the 2021-22 season to replace Mike White.
After Florida 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 St. Mary’s.