UF basketball coach accused of sexual harassment and stalking
Florida men's basketball head coach Todd Golden has been accused by an undefined number of women for sexual harassment and stalking, according to Title IX documents obtained by The Alligator.
The University of Florida received a formal Title IX complaint on Golden Sept. 27 alleging that he engaged in various conduct that potentially violated the UF Gender Equity Policy.
In order to comply with federal law, UF can't comment on or confirm any Title IX inquiries, complaints or investigations, according to a UF spokesperson.
The formal Title IX complaint against Golden obtained by The Alligator includes allegations of sexual exploitation, sexual harassment and stalking. The complaint alleges that over a year, Golden specifically aimed these behaviors toward UF students.
The claims regarding sexual harassment, which could also include sexual exploitation, cited sending photos and videos of his genitalia while traveling for UF, unwanted sexual advances on Instagram, requesting sexual favors, 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.
On allegedly more than one occasion, Golden was engaging women on Instagram by liking photos then waiting until they read the DM before un-liking the photos to avoid suspicion.
The UF men's basketball coaching staff didn't respond in time for publication.
The Alligator spoke with two separate women who attested to Golden's behavior and requested to remain anonymous for safety reasons. Since the investigation began, there was a small amount of action that was taken by UF, both women said.
The first woman, a former UF student, said that Golden stalked her in person, both in his car and on foot, and that this occurred "more than 10 times." On one occasion, she said she posted her location on her Instagram story, and Golden messaged her shortly after saying that he was in the area "waiting for [her]."
She also said Golden sent unsolicited photos of his genitalia to her. On multiple occasions, the first woman said she received the photos while the team was traveling on the road. The nature of Golden's alleged stalking became more assertive over time, she said.
"At first, it starts off slow, like, 'Oh, wow. That's odd. This guy is showing us attention,'" the first woman said. "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 the first woman and the second woman, also a former UF student, corroborated that Golden liked Instagram posts of theirs dating back to 2023, sometimes even older. Additionally, they said he liked multiple posts at once, supposedly in an attempt to get the women's attention before going back and unliking them to avoid suspicion.
"He would go at such lengths about it," the first woman said. "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."
Golden had been in contact with both women for over a year before unfollowing them after they were told UF began looking into his behavior this past August, they said.
According to Snoopreport, a publicly accessible Instagram activity tracking software, Golden unfollowed 118 accounts on the platform between Aug. 1 and Sept. 1. At least 20, if not more, of these accounts appear to have been young women without connection to the Florida basketball program, or any other organizations that Golden had previously affiliated with. The women separately confirmed that Golden had blocked them rather than unfollowed.
The second woman said Golden told numerous 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 women also allege UF Special Assistant Ralphie Ferrari and UF Director of Basketball Strategy and Analytics Jonathan Safir were complicit in Golden's misconduct and had knowledge of it. Neither of the men were mentioned in the Title IX complaint. Neither responded for comment.
The first woman said this misconduct goes beyond Golden. She believes there is a culture of sexual harassment within Florida's coaching staff that has only grown since his arrival in Gainesville over two years ago, she said.
"I think it is just a sick f*cking joke that they're all doing, within that organization, all the coaches," she said. "They probably get off by showing each other the pictures...There's something f*cking sick going on there."
