ORLANDO, Fla. — This would be the worst. If these allegations are true, they would constitute the worst, the ugliest, the creepiest, the most shocking college sports scandal in state history.
Being a graduate of the University of Florida and the father of a daughter who also graduated from there, I got sick to my stomach when I read the allegations Friday. In a Title IX complaint obtained by the school’s Independent Florida Alligator newspaper, basketball coach Todd Golden is being accused by multiple women — including past and present UF students — of sexually harassing them, stalking them, cyberstalking them, sexually exploiting them and sending lewd photos of his genitalia to them. Never in my decades of covering sports in this state have I ever heard of allegations against a college coach that are so appalling.
I covered Urban Meyer’s renegade UF program. I’ve covered many NCAA investigations, gambling probes and players being convicted of sexual assault, but I’ve never covered a marquee head coach at the state’s flagship university accused of being a sexual deviant and predator. If these allegations are true — and Golden certainly deserves a chance to defend himself — this could bring down the entire hierarchy of UF’s program, starting with athletic director Scott Stricklin himself.
These charges are so salacious and so volatile that it’s difficult to figure out why Stricklin didn’t instruct Golden to take an immediate leave of absence until UF .
