Whether or not Golden is guilty, the damage has already been done

Todd Golden (Gator Bait Photo by Chris Spears)

Dumpster fire. As much as I hate that overused term that is the simplistic explanation for everything on the entire planet that can and will go wrong, it seems to be the description of choice for the University of Florida athletic department after Friday’s blockbuster story in The Alligator about basketball coach Todd Golden.

Golden is the subject of a Title IX investigation that began on September 27 per the reporting by Jack Meyer and Alex Tucker. The story alleges that Golden has engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment, stalking and sending unsolicited photos of his genitalia to women, some of whom were UF students.

Whether true or not, it’s just the latest in a long line of embarrassing incidents involving Florida coaches, student athletes and boosters years in the making. Among the more recent:

· Football coach Jim McElwain

• · Women’s basketball coach Cam Newbauer

• · Football coach Dan Mullen

• · Women’s soccer coach Tony Amato

• · NIL deal with former quarterback recruit Jaden Rashada gone south that includes former Florida staffer Marcus Castro-Walker, mega booster Hugh Hathcock and head coach Billy Napier

• · And now Todd Golden

McElwain: Claimed that he and his family had received death threats from Florida fans. When asked to show proof he couldn’t. Fired after the seventh game of the season.

Newbauer: Surprisingly given a fifth season after three losers and one break even, Newbauer resigned (or perhaps asked to resign) prior to the 2021-22 season after allegations of physical and verbal abuse.

Mullen: After three straight New Year’s Six bowl seasons, things went sideways for Mullen starting with NCAA probation and a one-year show cause against him ahead of the 2020 Cotton Bowl. When things began to go south during the 2021 season, there were reports that Mullen bailed on his team. He fired offensive line coach John Hevesy and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham a couple of weeks before he was canned.

Amato: Given a six-year contract, Amato lasted one season, fired after players began leaving the program in droves amid allegations he pressured players about their eating habits and made disparaging remarks about their bodies. In his only season as the UF head coach, Amato went 4-14-2.

Rashada NIL deal: This is an ongoing fluid situation since Jaden Rashada, now a backup QB at Georgia, has sued former Gator staffer Marcus Castro-Walker, mega booster Hugh Hathcock and HBC Billy Napier. Rashada claims he had a $9.4 million NIL deal with Miami although Miami mega booster John Ruiz says no such contract existed. The Gator Collective and Hathcock signed Rashada to a $13.8 million NIL deal after Rashada de-committed from Miami. Prior to National Signing Day in December 2022, the contract with UF went sideways although Napier allegedly tried to salvage the deal. Rashada signed with UF then got a release and went to Arizona State. He transferred after one year to Georgia and launched a $10 million lawsuit against Castro-Walker, Hathcock and Napier. This lawsuit could result in an NCAA investigation and violations against UF.

Golden: Friday it was reported that Golden is the subject of a Title IX notice of allegations. Attempts to contact Florida AD Scott Stricklin only resulted in a message that UF cannot comment on ongoing investigations. As of 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning, there were no announcements by Stricklin or the University of Florida regarding Golden’s status. The Gators have a Monday evening game at the O-Dome against Grambling.

Earlier in the week athletic director Scott Stricklin announced he would be giving Napier a fourth year to right the football program, an announcement that was met with an almost equal number of positive and negative reactions. Stricklin believes Napier has the football program on the right track and that Napier is the right coach to lead Florida back to a championship level. It should be noted that Napier is considered an absolute Boy Scout in the coaching profession, a deeply religious man who runs a program founded on the principles of honesty, responsibility and accountability.

Contrast Napier to the allegations against Golden, whose image was generally clean although last year there were some unfounded rumors that he might have been involved in an extra-marital relationship.

The news about Golden compounded the angst among the fans, boosters and alumni who were unhappy that Stricklin was bringing back Napier for one more season. Message boards lit up with calls to immediately dismiss both the coach and AD.

Here are a few of the tamer calls and messages I received during the day:

“It’s a dumpster fire. Golden has to go. Stricklin too.”

“Look at all the coaches Stricklin has hired and fired. Golden is a problem but Stricklin’s a bigger one.”

“I didn’t like Foley. He f@#ked us on facilities and he hired Moosedump and Butter Teeth and Mike White. Stricklin hired Mullen, Napier and Golden. We’re the embarrassment of the SEC now.”

“Gotta have a new AD. Gotta have a new basketball coach. While we’re about it why don’t we clean out the whole athletic administration?”

“What kind of signal does it send if we don’t have the guts to fire Golden and Stricklin?”

Title IX investigations are known to move at a snail’s pace, but the Florida athletic administration should have been ready to cover every possible scenario the moment the allegations went viral. Since the notice of allegations was delivered on September 27 there is no good reason for a lack of response.

It is troubling that here we are in the early hours of Saturday and there hasn’t been any word from Stricklin. If Golden has been investigated and the allegations are found untruthful, then there should have been a statement to that effect prepared and sent out Friday morning. If the investigation has yet to uncover enough substantial evidence to either fire or suspend Golden, then Stricklin should have called a press conference, explained why he is sticking with Golden for now at least, and then answered questions from the media.

If  there is even a small measure of truth to the allegations, then Stricklin should have called a press conference Friday to announce that Golden will be suspended until the investigation is complete, or fired. The lack of a response only lends to the belief that some or all of the allegations are true.

Also, the lack of a response heats up speculation that perhaps Stricklin has been removed from the decision-making process. Enough so that he will be removed as the athletic director? That seems to be a possibility.

If you were alive and following the Gators during the 1980s, then you are all too familiar with the football scandals that led to the firing of both Charley Pell and Galen Hall as well as the basketball scandal that brought about the firing of Norm Sloan. Those were difficult times at Florida, salvaged by the 12 incident free years of Steve Spurrier and the hiring of Lon Kruger to coach basketball followed by the hire of Billy Donovan. From Spurrier’s first year on the job in 1990 until 2014 when assistant coach Joker Phillips resigned over a recruiting violation there were no run-ins with the NCAA. Both Kruger, Donovan and Donovan’s successor Mike White there were no NCAA violations.

However, since the hire of McElwain and his subsequent firing in 2017, there has been a string of embarrassing hirings and firings, an NCAA run-in and the NIL mess. Now, there is a Title IX investigation at a school that for years whose national image was as squeaky clean as it gets.

Florida athletics seem to be the dumpster fire that has been suggested on message boards and in print since Friday morning. Whether Todd Golden is guilty or not, the damage has been done to his reputation and to the Florida athletic department.

Perhaps a steam cleaning is due.