UF men’s basketball coach accused of stalking, sexually harassing women
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WFLA) — The University of Florida's men basketball head coach, Todd Golden, is being accused of stalking and sexually harassing women.
A complaint was reportedly filed against Golden, which includes several allegations of sexual exploitation, harassment, and stalking, according to documents obtained by the university's newspaper, The Independent Florida Alligator .
FBI thwarts Iranian murder-for-hire plan targeting Donald Trump
The report said the harassment involved Golden sending photos and videos of his genitalia, sexual advances through Instagram, requesting sexual acts, and occasions of stalking.
The paper cited two women's experience. One woman, a former student, said Golden stalked by her car and by foot over 10 times. She posted her location on her Instagram story, to which Golden told her he was in the area, "waiting for [her]."
According to the former UF student, Golden sent inappropriate photos of himself to her. She told The Independent Florida Alligator, "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...'It was a full grooming process with all of us."
Florida man accused of stabbing brother in neck for 'talking over' food while cooking
The other woman, another former student, who said Golden would like several older photos on their Instagram to grab their attention— a claim which also backed up the first woman's claims about a similar experience. She also claimed he told her she was "his drug" and "good luck charm" before basketball games.
According to the report, Golden was in contact with the women for more than a year before he unfollowed them on the social media platform after the university began investigating his behavior in August.
The Independent Florida Alligator looked into an Instagram activity tracking software, where they discovered that Golden unfollowed 118 accounts between Aug. 1 and Sept. 1. They said more than 20 accounts appeared to have been younger women. The women separately confirmed to them that Golden eventually blocked them.
Sarasota Sheriff addresses circulating video of 3 men following teen accused of making inappropriate comments to women
The complaint also detailed several instances in which Golden took photos of women walking and sending those women the pictures, while also physically stalking women, going as far to show up at locations where he knew they would be.
According to the report, one of the victim's believes the misconduct goes beyond Golden, and extends far with the coaching staff at UF, and has only grown since he arrived.
