Florida Gators head baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan was identified in October by a state child-welfare investigator as the subject of verbal abuse allegations made by one of his teenage children, according to law enforcement records.
The records show that the state Department of Children and Families planned to remove the child from O’Sullivan’s home on Oct. 16 — six days before UF announced that O’Sullivan, the most successful baseball coach in the university’s history, was taking an indefinite leave of absence to address “personal and family issues.”
The teen’s abuse allegations against O'Sullivan were described to state DCF investigator Elin Garavuso and three Alachua County sheriff’s deputies, according to a sheriff’s report obtained under Florida’s public records law. The report said sheriff’s deputies found no evidence of criminal activity, and court records show O’Sullivan has not been arrested or charged.
In the report, deputy Teameika Trueluck wrote that the teen said O’Sullivan — who shares custody of his two children with their mother — had been verbally abusive and “is constantly yelling and screaming” at the teen. The teen “feels unsafe” at O’Sullivan’s home and “over the past few years” has wanted to discontinue visits to O’Sullivan’s home, the report said.
The teen told authorities at least four prior reports had been filed with the state agency, according to the report. Deputy Trueluck wrote that the teen believed “no one is willing to do anything” because O’Sullivan is “a coach at the University of Florida.”
O’Sullivan, 56, told authorities he has not hit the teen but raises his voice during disputes involving the teen’s cell phone, according to the sheriff’s report. “Kevin stated he wished he dealt with the situation differently,” deputy Tyler Jovic wrote.
The teen provided videos to Garavuso, the child-welfare investigator, showing O’Sullivan “screaming and cussing” at both children, according to the report. The teen played a video for Deputy Trueluck, who described the clip in the report as showing O’Sullivan “cursing” at both his children and “making threats to harm them.”
The six-page law enforcement report details separate interactions among O’Sullivan, his family and authorities over two days, from Oct. 14 to Oct. 15. Garavuso, the child-welfare investigator, said the state agency would remove the teen from O’Sullivan’s home “for the time being” on Oct. 16 and place the child with O’Sullivan’s ex-wife, who lives nearby. It is unclear whether the removal ultimately occurred.
After each meeting, authorities wrote they found no evidence of a crime — citing an absence of violence during interviews; a lack of visible marks on the teen accuser, who was wearing long pants and a sweatshirt; and that the teen’s sibling contradicted statements from the children’s mother, who told deputies O’Sullivan had “threatened the kids” and “put hands on kids” within the previous two weeks.
“I have found no reason to believe a crime has occurred,” deputy Dale Cruse wrote on Oct. 17.
UF announced O’Sullivan’s indefinite leave, effective immediately, five days later. In a same-day statement, O’Sullivan attributed the decision to “some personal and family issues that need my full attention at this time.”
In the statement, Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said, “Coach O’Sullivan has our full support as he takes the time he needs to focus on personal matters. We appreciate his openness in communicating this decision, and respect his need for privacy.”
In a separate statement on Tuesday, the University Athletic Association said “we have not seen” the sheriff’s office report, adding “it was not the basis for his [O’Sullivan’s] decision to take a personal leave of absence.”
O’Sullivan did not respond to a voicemail and an emailed list of questions sent on Tuesday. O’Sullivan’s current wife, Minde, declined to speak on the record Tuesday.
A lawyer for O’Sullivan sent a cease-and-desist letter to The Alligator late Tuesday, demanding the student-run newspaper refrain from “publishing any article regarding any report of the abuse of a minor child.” In the letter, O’Sullivan’s attorney wrote, “As you should know, no matter how or from whom you received the information upon which you wish to report, reports of child abuse are protected under Florida law, such that any disclosure is a crime.”
“You should not write, publish or disseminate in any way any article involving any complaints made by or about a minor child who is the subject of DCF investigations, all of which have been or are in the process of being closed as unfounded,” O’Sullivan’s lawyer wrote. The letter cited state statutes governing the confidentiality and release of records relating to allegations and investigations of child abuse and neglect.
The Alligator’s decision to report the allegations contained in the law enforcement records was made because O’Sullivan is a high-profile public figure who oversees and mentors college athletes only a few years older than his eldest teen. As head coach, he represents one of the top SEC baseball programs as well as Florida’s flagship public university. This reporting does not name O’Sullivan’s children or include other personal details about them and their relationship with their father that appear in public records, which The Alligator obtained through requests made under Florida’s Sunshine Law.
The status of the state’s investigations — including whether they have been completed or whether O’Sullivan has been exonerated — are unknown. DCF spokesperson Anna Archambault declined to comment.
Under Florida law, child abuse investigations are confidential unless a child dies. No court records indicate O’Sullivan has been arrested or charged in relation to any such investigation, and in June, a family court judge affirmed there was “no history of domestic violence.”
According to the law enforcement report, the teen who filed the DCF report told Deputy Jovic that O’Sullivan punched a shelf off a wall in his home and struck the teen’s bedroom door hard enough to break the lock. Jovic documented the damage to the wall but could not confirm its cause. When deputies arrived on Oct. 15, the teen was hiding in a locked bathroom within the bedroom, the report said.
During a separate interview with the teen held the day before, on Oct. 14, Deputy Trueluck asked if O’Sullivan had “physically abused” the teen “in any way since the last DCF report was taken” and the teen said he had not, according to the law enforcement report. The report did not clarify which DCF report Trueluck was referring to or when it was filed.
The abuse allegations were also the subject of a 911 call placed Oct. 14 by Garavuso, the state investigator, who requested law enforcement backup before meeting with O’Sullivan’s ex-wife, Barbara Jo Stoner, and the children. On the call, Garavuso said the teen who reported O’Sullivan to DCF was “worried about physical abuse because it’s happened in the past.” She also said she was looking into reports that O’Sullivan screamed profanities and shouted an expletive repeatedly in the teen’s face.
The investigator identified both teens as “victims,” although most concerns centered on the child who made the abuse allegations. When the 911 dispatcher asked Garavuso to identify the suspect in the abuse investigation, she replied, “The name of the suspect is Kevin Michael O'Sullivan."
Stoner, the ex-wife, told authorities during the Oct. 14 meeting that O’Sullivan had “threatened the kids” and “put hands on kids” within the previous two weeks, according to the law enforcement report. O’Sullivan’s other child, who did not make the abuse allegations, told deputies O’Sullivan had never hit either of his children but had threatened a “whoopin,” the report said.
Under Florida law, felony child abuse is described as inflicting physical or mental injury on a child; mental injury means impairing the child's ability to function normally as determined by experts. Harsh speech and non-injurious physical discipline — such as spanking that leaves no lasting marks — are generally not crimes in Florida.
Striking a child with a closed fist or with objects, such as belts or sticks, hitting a child in the face or head, or causing bruises or welts is widely recognized as unacceptable and can be considered criminal abuse under state law.
O’Sullivan earns $1.84 million annually under a head coach contract extended last year by UF to run through 2033. He lives less than 2 miles from his ex-wife’s Gainesville home.
UF’s baseball season begins Feb. 13 at home against the University of Alabama at Birmingham. O’Sullivan had already been suspended for the first three games following his profanity-laced tirade directed at site administrators during a June 1 NCAA regional at Coastal Carolina University. A video of the outburst went viral online.
In it, O’Sullivan used an expletive at least a dozen times in 47 seconds — the same one that the state investigator later accused him of shouting repeatedly in the face of his child. O’Sullivan apologized publicly the following day, saying, “I let my emotions get the best of me and channeled that energy in a way I should not have.”
Since taking over the program in 2007, O'Sullivan has become the winningest coach in Gators’ history, compiling a 756-371 record over 18 seasons. The three-time SEC Coach of the Year has led Florida to 17 NCAA regionals, nine College World Series appearances and the program’s first and only national title in 2017.
After O’Sullivan stepped away in October, UF named Chuck Jeroloman interim head coach. Nine days later, Jeroloman left to become Tennessee's associate head coach after six seasons in a similar role with the Gators. Florida subsequently hired Tom Slater as acting coach in O’Sullivan’s absence.
O’Sullivan’s divorce, filed by Stoner in 2016 after six years of marriage, has remained contentious, with ongoing disputes over custody and medical decision-making. O’Sullivan remarried in 2022. Their shared-custody agreement includes a detailed schedule, including provisions that accommodate O’Sullivan’s desire for the children to attend the College World Series if the Gators were to play.
The two continue to litigate aspects of custody. In an April deposition, part of a dispute over health care decision-making, Stoner testified that they rarely speak and communicate mostly by text or email. Over the summer, a judge ordered both parents to better coordinate their children’s medical care.
Contact Garrett at gshanley@alligator.org. Follow him on X @garrettshanley.
Garrett Shanley is a fourth-year journalism major and the Spring 2025 university editor for The Alligator. Outside of the newsroom, you can find him watching Wong Kar-Wai movies and talking to his house plants.
