"An attorney representing fired Bishop Montgomery High coach Ed Hodgkiss says in a statement his preliminary investigation indicates that an unidentified school official and others were trying "to create a team that could compete" with powers Mater Dei and St. John Bosco. "The way it appears they were attempting to accomplish this was to deploy the 'If you can't beat them join them' strategy. And so, they did," according to a statement from attorney Darren M. Richie, who represents Hodgkiss."
"The attorney, who also will be representing some of the ineligible players, said in the statement, "From all I have reviewed and independently verified, each and every transfer possesses legitimate documentation because they indeed physically moved. ... For anyone that follows high school football, their move was not athletically motivated. Those know that generally their football program was not mentioned in the same breath as top of the heap.""
A preliminary investigation indicates an unidentified school official and others sought to create a team that could compete with Mater Dei and St. John Bosco by recruiting transfer students. Hodgkiss, a 15-year football coach and physical education teacher who also served as co‑athletic director, was fired last week. Five transfer players were declared ineligible by the Southern Section for violating CIF bylaw 202 involving false information. Bishop Montgomery has 24 transfer students this year; a booster admitted paying parents to move their sons to Narbonne and confirmed assisting Bishop Montgomery. The school self-reported violations and forfeited remaining games. The Southern Section declined comment, citing an Archdiocese investigation, and principal Michele Starkey resigned as Camino-Del Rey Athletic Assn. president.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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