Todd Golden reacts to Taurean Green sexual assault accusations, implores no rush to judgement

On Thursday, it was brought to light that Florida men’s basketball assistant coach Taurean Green was accused of sexual assault in a complaint filed by a UF athletics department employee, ESPN’s Paula Lavigne reported.

The news came as the university is also investigating head coach Todd Golden for alleged Title IX violations. In response, Golden reacted to the accusation while speaking with the media on Friday, imploring the media and fans alike not to rush to any particular judgment on the matter.

“I support my staff. I would just implore people not to rush to judgment based off a headline,” Golden stated, via Edgar Thompson of the Orlando Sentinel. “… A Title IX mechanism that is created to protect both sides during a situation like this, with confidentiality and privacy continues to be abused.”

Moving forward, Green will remain on Golden’s staff for their clash against Texas this weekend, per Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun, as the head coach expressed frustration regarding the lack of confidentiality in the Title IX investigation process.

The complaint against Green, which was obtained by ESPN, claims that a woman said the Florida assistant allegedly kissed her and tried to put his hand down her pants after setting up a meeting with her at the athletics facility in March 2024. She attempted to pull his hand away, and he said no before trying again. The woman then got away.

The woman reported the allegations in mid-December. Florida acknowledged the complaint in a statement to ESPN, but couldn’t comment any further.

Green has been on the staff at Florida since 2022, starting as director of player development and moving up to assistant coach in 2023. It marked a return to the program after a decorated career as a player, winning SEC Tournament MVP honors in 2006 while helping the Gators to back-to-back national championships. Those were the last back-to-back titles until UConn did so in 2023 and 2024.

Moreover, Green is the second member of the staff to come under investigation. Allegations of sexual exploitation, sexual harassment and stalking surfaced against Golden himself in November, after the university’s student paper, The Alligator, reported an investigation was underway.

The Alligator also reported on the purported nature of the alleged sexual harassment outlined in the complaint, which reportedly included “unwanted sexual advances on Instagram, requesting sexual favors, sending photos and videos of his genitalia while traveling for UF and various occasions of stalking.”

Golden is also alleged to have gone to various locations he knew the women would be, as well as taking pictures of them or their vehicles and sending them to them, according to the report. He is also alleged to have used Instagram to try and engage with the women, liking a post and quickly unliking it, but still causing a notification, according to the report.

Todd Golden has continued to coach the Gators since the report came out. Florida is currently 15-2 on the season following a loss to Missouri on Tuesday and will take on Texas on Saturday.

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.