By Martha 
Florida coach Todd Golden is putting a tough few months behind him and shifting his focus back to basketball.
On Monday, the University of Florida cleared Golden after a four-month Title IX investigation into allegations of stalking, sexual exploitation, and harassment—including claims that he sent unwanted explicit photos and videos. After looking into the case, the university found no evidence to support the accusations.
Now, Golden is ready to move forward.
“Happy to put it behind us,” he said in a Thursday press conference, where he mostly discussed Saturday’s upcoming game against Tennessee. “Moving forward, we’ll continue to have our full attention on our team and then the game on Saturday. Look forward to talking about basketball with you guys.”
Though most of the questions focused on basketball, one reporter asked how he planned to repair his reputation after such serious allegations.
“To be honest, it’s a very fair and real question,” Golden, 39, said. “I’m simply not worried about that right now. My job is to make sure our team’s prepared, my job’s to make sure we’re ready to go for Saturday. I’ll worry about all that stuff later.”
Despite the ruling, those who filed the complaint can still appeal the university’s decision.
Meanwhile, Golden’s team hasn’t let the off-court drama slow them down. The No. 5-ranked Gators (18-2, 5-2 SEC) have been rolling, most recently crushing Georgia 89-59 last Saturday.
Golden said this week’s schedule worked out well, giving the team extra time to regroup.
“This was the perfect week for us to get a bye,” he said. “I would have been a little concerned if we would have played Tuesday or Wednesday, how much we would have been able to rally from a mental and physical preparation standpoint. But it’s been good to us.
“We took Monday relatively off, we practiced really hard Tuesday. Took Wednesday off. We should be pretty fresh going into Saturday and we should have everybody ready to go.”