Football Coach Kicks Player Off Team For Missing Game, Gets Fired After 11 Players Quit to Show Support

Senior WR/DE Guillermo Salazar informed the coach that he would have to miss an October 13th game to attend a baseball showcase in Arizona. Salazar is a college baseball prospect. Instead of being a nice guy and letting the kid take advantage of a great opportunity, Mahaffey forced Salazar to quit. Principal Brian Ginter stepped in to resolve the situation. From the Sacramento Bee:

Ginter met Tuesday with the coach and told Mahaffey he was bringing back the 11 players with a one-game suspension “for insubordination.”

“He felt he couldn’t be able to coach effectively if that happened and that he would not do that,” Ginter said. “So at that particular time, I had to let him go.”

Mahaffey had been with the program for 17 seasons and had been the head coach for four years.

“I felt I was painted into a corner,” said Mahaffey, an off-campus coach who teaches special education in the San Juan Unified School District. “I tried to stand up for the right thing and still think I have. … I couldn’t coach a group of kids who bullied their way back on the football team.”

Mahaffey stands by his decision. [Sacramento Bee]