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Highland High fires coach after football incident
| Monday, Oct 23 2006 10:55 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Oct 23 2006 10:59 PM
An assistant frosh-soph football coach for Highland High School was dismissed by the school immediately after an incident in last week's game, which resulted in the ejection of four players and an injury to a Liberty High player.
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In the fourth quarter of Thursday's game at Highland, Randy Tune, Highland's defensive coordinator, instructed four defensive linemen to rush the passer before the snap of the football, a basic rule violation, school Principal Bob Schneider said Monday.
What resulted was the immediate firing of Tune, the ejection of four Highland freshman players from the game and an injury to Liberty center J.J. Perez, 14. He was taken to a hospital in an ambulance and diagnosed with a broken left clavicle, according to his father, Joel Perez.
"There's no excuse," Schneider said. "What matters first and foremost is the safety of the players."
Schneider said Tune was a "walk-on" coach, meaning Tune does not teach at the school.
Schneider and Highland varsity coach Cliff Bolton handled the situation by relieving Tune of his coaching responsibilities on the spot. The incident occurred with three minutes left in the game, with Liberty winning 36-0. After Perez's injury, the final three minutes of the game were not played.
"What happened was wrong, it resulted in an injury and we took action," Schneider said. "When something like this happens, we really take it to heart."
Schneider said the four players ejected will be subject to California Interscholastic Federation policy. CIF is the governing body for California high school sports. According to CIF Central Section commissioner Jim Crichlow, the rule states that an ejected player will be suspended for the next football game. The four Highland players involved will sit out when the team plays Bakersfield High on Thursday.
At Liberty, administrators, coaches and parents lauded the swift response by Highland.
"I'm very pleased with the way the coach and administration handled it," Liberty freshman/sophomore coach Tony Mills said Monday.
"To see that kid on the turf was the disturbing part," said Mike George, whose son Nick plays safety for the Patriots. "That could be the difference in him playing football next season or not.
"Nick was really bothered by that."
Joel Perez said his son will play football again as soon as possible. J.J. has played for years with North of the River's Hurricanes.
"Thankfully, my son's OK, nothing major," Joel Perez said. "At the game, you don't know exactly what he's going through. He just said that he was feeling a pain in the back of his head and a tingling."
Those symptoms led the emergency technicians to brace Perez and carry him to the ambulance.
Calls to Tune and Bolton were not immediately returned Monday night.
The Perezes said they have been encouraged by support from Liberty staff and parents.
"Coach Mills came by the hospital, and we appreciated his concern," Joel Perez said. "I know a lot of the parents, and I got calls and they were concerned for him."
The Liberty frosh-soph team, which has won seven of eight games this season, will be without Perez for its last two games.