Florida’s men’s basketball team beat Grambling State on Monday night with Todd Golden on the sidelines in his normal head coaching role.
Golden is continuing as the team’s head coach despite a reported Title IX inquiry into alleged sexual harassment and stalking. According to a report from The Alligator last week, Golden is accused of sexual harassment and stalking of multiple women. Those women allegedly include current and former Florida students.
The 39-year-old coach called the past few days “challenging” and was asked in his postgame news conference what he would say to female fans.
“Obviously in this situation, due process, and to continue to support our guys and I would just hope that they would let the process take place and see where it ends up,” Golden said.
According to the report, Golden is accused on “more than one occasion” of taking photos of women while they were driving or walking and then sending those photos to them via social media. One woman has accused Golden, who is married, of sending her a picture of his genitalia.
After the report was published, Florida did not move to suspend Golden or put him on leave. The third-year coach released a statement on Saturday that confirmed the existence of an “inquiry” and said that he had consulted an attorney about potential defamation claims.
“For the last month, I have actively participated in and respected the confidentiality of an ongoing school inquiry,” the statement said. “I have recently engaged Ken Turkel to advise me on my ability to bring defamation claims while this confidential investigation is ongoing. My family and I appreciate the support we have received and remain confident the university will continue its efforts to finish its review promptly.”
Golden was also asked following Monday’s 86-62 win if he was worried about how his circumstances would affect his players. He said that he felt good about them entering the game.
“I wasn’t necessarily concerned, I think they know who I am and again, they’re mature, they’re all really good guys and all super focused,” Golden said. “We had really good practices and we had a great shoot around today, they were locked in.”
