Back in the fall, we shared a story out of California where a group of four opposing coaches in a five-team league stood together as a united front with a radical plan: they were all going to boycott their game against Narbonne.
The drastic measure came as a result of what the coaches share, was at least a decade of concerns that had gone consistently ignored, most recently by LA City Section Commissioner Victoria Lagos.
Among those concerns were 20 new transfers that arrived at Narbonne following a 4-6 season two years ago, along with financial incentives in the "tens of thousands of dollars" and various housing arrangements that were being provided by the school or football program for those transfers as well as others on the roster.
Refusing to play a fellow school not abiding by the rules, the coaches at Banning HS (Raymond Grajeda), Carson HS (Michael Christensen), Monty Gilbreath (Gardena) and Corey Walsh (San Pedro) encouraged decisive action to be taken, providing three examples; 1) Narbonne be suspended from the league, 2) the conference allow the four schools to break off and form a new league or 3) the four schools join a different league altogether where fairness and integrity are an actual priority and not just lip service.
Those four coaches stood their ground, insisting on forfeiting games against Narbonne until a resolution could be reached. All four of them took the forfeit instead of taking the field in their scheduled games against the embattled opponent to end the season.
Despite the bright light and criticism, Narbonne (who started off 5-2 before the forfeits)went on to win the 2024 Open Division title.
However, that changed with a decision by the CIF LA City Section, who brought down the hammer on Narbonne following an investigation into the allegations.
Not only will Narbonne have to vacate their Open Division crown, the violation of CIF eligibility rules is forcing the program to vacate all league, non-league, and playoff contests after it was found they did not provide accurate information during the investigation and broke undue influence and pre-enrollment contact bylaws leading up to the 2024 football season.
In addition to vacating wins, they are also being banned from the 2025, 2026 and 2027 COF LA City Section football playoffs, with the ability to appeal after the 2025-26 school year.
The school is also being placed on probation for the next three years.
While certainly a drastic measure, the blueprint laid out by the four brave California coaches may serve as a possible blueprint for frustrated coaches in other states looking to have their frustrations taken seriously by state associations.
via @latsondheimer
via @latsondheimer