Florida men’s basketball assistant coach Taurean Green is set to continue coaching as a Title IX complaint of sexual assault against him became public Friday.
According to a report by ESPN, Green is accused of kissing a female athletic department employee and putting his hand down her pants. The alleged incident was reported to the school’s Title IX office in March of last year.
From ESPN:
She pulled his hand away and said no, and he tried again, at which point she got away, according to the complaint. Until that day, she had never been alone with Green and had only exchanged casual greetings with him on campus, she told ESPN in an interview.
Green did not respond to requests for comment.
Green, 38, played basketball at Florida from 2004-07 and was a second-round pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. After a pro career that came largely in Europe, Green joined Florida’s staff in 2022.
Florida coach Todd Golden said Green will be with the team as the Gators play Texas on Saturday.
“I would suggest people do not rush to judgment based off a headline,” Golden said Friday via the Associated Press. “For me, I am just frustrated and disappointed that a Title IX mechanism that is created to protect both sides during a situation like this — that confidentiality and privacy continues to be abused.
“So as frustrating and as disappointing and as hard as it is to do, I am going to do what I think I need to do and continue to respect the process, as I have.”
Golden himself is the subject of a Title IX complaint and has also continued to coach as the complaint is investigated. Golden, 39, is accused of sexually harassing multiple women, including students at the University of Florida. The Florida student newspaper, The Alligator, reported the accusations against Golden in November. Women have said the coach has made sexual advances on Instagram, sent photos of his genitalia and has also been accused of stalking women when “showing up to locations where he knew the women would be.”
Golden said at the time the allegations against him became public that he had engaged with a lawyer on the feasibility of a defamation suit. A defamation suit has not been filed.
Florida is ranked No. 5 in the most recent AP Top 25 poll but fell to 15-2 on Tuesday night after an 83-82 home loss to Missouri.
