An interesting week in Gainesville became even more interesting Friday morning when The Alligator, the school’s student newspaper, dropped a bombshell report outlining allegations against Florida men’s head basketball coach Todd Golden for sexual harassment and stalking.
The Alligator obtained documents from a formal complaint filed with UF’s Title IX office back on Sept. 27.
According to a UF spokesperson, the school can’t comment on or confirm any Title IX inquiries, complaints or investigations in order to comply with federal law.
The complaint alleges that Golden aimed his sexual harassment behavior at UF students for more than a year. The claims include sending photos and videos of his genitalia while traveling for UF, unwanted sexual advances on Instagram, requesting sexual favors and stalking.
Per The Alligator’s report, Golden allegedly took photos of women walking or driving and sent those pictures to the women. The stalking incidents stem from Golden showing up at places he knew the women would be.
The Alligator spoke to two separate women who requested to remain anonymous for safety reasons. Both ladies are former UF students.
The first alleged that Golden stalked her in person, both in his car and on foot “more than 10 times.” She claimed the coach sent unsolicited photos of his genitalia to her multiple times while the team was on the road.
The first woman said, “At first, it starts off slow, like, ‘Oh, wow. That’s odd. This guy is showing us attention.’ And then it becomes, ‘Wow, he’s kind of crossing a line. No, he didn’t mean it that way.’ Then it’s, ‘Wait, he’s fully stepping over that line.’ And then it’s, ‘Wow, there’s a picture of his d*ck.’ It was a full grooming process with all of us.”
Both women claim that Golden would “like” multiple posts on their Instagram account, only to go back and “unlike” them later.
“He would go at such lengths about it,” the first woman told The Alligator. “He would go back, like a year back, and like ten photos at once. Then, obviously, [he] followed up with a DM, always in vanish mode… Just really aggressive Instagram stalking is the best way to put it.”
According to Snoopreport (per The Alligator), an Instagram activity software tracker, Golden unfollowed 118 different accounts between Aug. 1 and Sept. 1. At least 20 of the accounts were young women with no affiliation to the UF basketball program.
The second woman told The Alligator that Golden told multiple women that they were “his drug” or “his good luck charm” before games.
“He just had this manipulation tactic over everyone,” she said. “And he sent us all the same sh*t. It was copy-paste to every girl.”
Both ladies claim that Florida Special Assistant Ralphie Ferrari and Director of Basketball Strategy and Analytics Jonathan Safir had knowledge of Golden’s misconduct, but neither of the men were mentioned in the Title IX complaint.
Florida has won its first two games in Golden’s third season at the helm, including Thursday’s 81-60 non-covering win over Jacksonville as a 24.5-point home favorite.
The 39-year-old Golden, who is married to former Saint Mary’s volleyball player Megan York, signed a six-year contract worth $18 million when he was hired on March 18 of 2022. AD Scott Stricklin, who somehow still has a job, extended Golden’s contract in March through the 2029-30 season, bumping his average salary up to $4.1 million per season.
Golden took UF to the NIT in his first season and the NCAA Tournament last year, but the Gators lost in the first round of both events. He has a 42-29 overall record (59.2%) at UF and a 20-16 mark (55.6%) in SEC play.