ed hodgkiss

Southern Section declares 19 Bishop Montgomery football players ineligible

The Southern Section announced on Friday that it has declared 19 transfer students at Bishop Montgomery athletically ineligible for two years following an investigation that determined they violated CIF bylaws when moving to the Catholic school in Torrance to play football.

The announcement comes after the school fired its coach, Ed Hodgkiss, canceled the rest of its season after playing one game and announced the resignation of President Patrick Lee following an investigation by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The Southern Section released the following statement: “Based upon the investigation, self-reporting, and findings of Bishop Montgomery High School, along with CIF-Southern Section’s own independent review, the Southern Section has determined that multiple students transferred to Bishop Montgomery High School to play varsity football for the 2025-2026 school year in violation of CIF bylaws.

“Notification has been sent to Bishop Montgomery High School administrators and parents/guardians of the football transfer student-athletes. Those determinations [have been/will be] posted on the CIF-Southern Section website in conformance with Section practices. The CIF-Southern Section and its staff will not comment on individual student athletic eligibility.”

The former coach and several players previously hired an attorney to investigate the matter.

The Southern Section previously announced ineligibility for five players. After further investigation, there are 19 players listed as ineligible on the Southern Section transfer portal.

Some of those players were expected to try to transfer to other schools after Bishop Montgomery discontinued varsity football. They are listed as ineligible for two years. Those players can appeal to try to restore their eligibility.

For months in the spring and summer, Bishop Montgomery had been touting its transfers. The school scheduled powerhouse Mater Dei for a nonleague game even though its program was primarily Division 10 or 11 in past years. While transfers were checking in, none of the paperwork was submitted to the Southern Section until August. That’s when trouble began.

This year, the Southern Section has been using AI and possibly funds available through the state CIF to hire investigators to double-check transfers submitted by schools. Previously when a school approved a verified change of address, it was mostly automatically accepted. There have been other schools determined to have ineligible players, with Long Beach Millikan having to forfeit two games.

This comes after a booster to Narbonne, St. Bernard and Bishop Montgomery, Brett Steigh, received a letter from an attorney with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles telling him to “cease and desist” from helping any Catholic schools.

Steigh went on a podcast to say he paid parents to transfer their sons to Narbonne in 2024 and he also helped pay tuition of football players at St. Bernard in 2020. The football program was dropped there in 2021, 2022 and 2023 after the head coach resigned in the middle of an FBI and IRS investigation.

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Bishop Montgomery fires head football coach Ed Hodgkiss

Ed Hodgkiss is no longer the football coach or co-athletic director at Bishop Montgomery. Principal Michele Starkey and president Patrick Lee made the announcement in a letter to parents on Saturday, writing Hodgkiss is “no longer employed at Bishop Montgomery.”

Bishop Montgomery and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have been scrambling to deal with the fallout from weeks of turmoil in the football program.

It started with the Southern Section declaring five transfer students ineligible this season for violation of CIF bylaw 202, which is providing false information. Then the team had numerous players suspended after a first-game loss in Hawaii when they left the bench with 24 seconds left. That forced Bishop Montgomery to forfeit Friday’s game against Santa Ana Mater Dei because of a lack of players.

The Archdiocese announced it would conduct an investigation into the transfer issues.

Hodgkiss came to Bishop Montgomery in 2010 from the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League.

Bishop Montgomery changed principals and presidents last school year and appeared to move to a different sports philosophy, accepting numerous transfer students with the hope of elevating the football program to a higher level of competition. The school is scheduled to leave the Camino Real League after this season.

No new coach was announced. Messages left for Hodgkiss and Lee were not returned.

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