Bishop Montgomery denies ties to booster who paid parents

Brett Steigh, a graduate of Narbonne High in 1992, Booster, local businessman and player, says that he raped the rules of the city and southern section by paying the parents of secondary football players to help level the playground.

Steigh said on Monday evening on Monday evening on the “Fattal Factor” podcast that he had paid the parents to obtain transfers for Narbonne and St. Bernard before “helping” Mgr Montgomery. Narbonne at Harbor City is part of the unified school district of Los Angeles, while the Archdiocese of Los Angeles operates St. Bernard in Playa Del Rey and Mgr Montgomery in Torrance.

While name, image and resemblance policies allow the payment of players, the recruitment of transfer athletes and the payment of their parents up to $ 50,000 remain a violation of the excessive rules of influence of the interscolaire Federation of California.

“I do not do anything that the others do not do,” said Steigh, gone that the private schools of Orange County, including national power, Mater Dei, paid to secure the transfer players.

A spokesperson for Mater Dei has not yet responded to a request for comments in response to allegation.

STEIGH said he had recruited players in 2018 and 2024 in Narbonne without the head coaches while paying the parents to move. The twice, Narbonne was sanctioned by the city section for violations of the rules.

He said he met the president of St. Bernard, Carter Paysinger, in 2020 and agreed to support this school after the former coach of Narbonne Manuel Douglas took over the program. Douglas told Times on Tuesday that payments had reached nearly a million dollars between tuition fees for new first -year football players and school improvements. Douglas said school administrators were aware of contributions.

Douglas and Steigh have become the subject of the FBI and IRS investigations after Douglas did not report the Steigh donations and did not pay taxes on them. Steigh said they had faced any accusation. Douglas resigned in 2020 and St. Bernard closed his football program in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Steigh said that he had now “supported” Bishop Montgomery with the knowledge of the president of the school, Patrick Lee.

Bishop Montgomery made five transfers have been declared ineligible by the South section and received more than 20 transfers in its football program entering this school year. On Saturday, the school fired his head coach, Ed Hodgkiss.

In a Times SMS, Lee denied any connection to Steigh.

“What he said was a pure and simple lie,” said Lee. “Neither the director nor I never met this man, told him, sent him an email, sent him a text – nothing.”

The commissioners of the city and the southern section are aware of the statements made that Steigh made during the podcast, with a person indicating the moments when they examine them.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles investigates the reasons why five transfer students from Bishop Montgomery were declared inadmissible for two years by the South section for violation of the CIF 202 regulations, which consists in submitting false information. The Archdiocese refused to answer questions about Steigh’s allegations.

“The Archdiocese of Los Angeles does not discuss the details of an in progress investigation,” a spokesman for Times told. “Once we have more information, we will share this with you.”

Bishop Montgomery, who canceled his first two games against Mater Dei and Leuzinger, will not be part of a university team the rest of the season, school announced on Tuesday. He will continue to align the junior and first year teams. We do not know if academic players will be eligible to transfer.

Steigh said he had agreed to appear on the Podcast of journalist Tarek Fattal because he thought it was bad that Hodgkiss – the football coach of Bishop Montgomery – was dismissed.

“Pat knew what the agreement was and now he is backing down. Not fair,” Steigh said, referring to the president of Bishop Montgomery.

Hodgkiss told Times that he had been advised by the legal advisor not to answer any questions.

A relative of Bishop Montgomery wrote in a letter at the time when an influx of football transfers joining the program received a preferential treatment.

“The return players have been demoted, excluded from trips or leave,” wrote the parent. “Archidiocean Catholic values ​​appear secondary to a short -term sporting exhibition. Despite my awareness of June at school, no answer has come. ”

In the spring, the Times asked the new director of Bishop Montgomery, Michele Starkey, if she was aware of an involvement by Steigh in the Mgr Montgomery program. She said no.

When Steigh was questioned during the Podcast why he would risk the eligibility of players by getting involved in Mgr Montgomery, Steigh said that he thought that the previous administrations with which he worked did not have the backbone to succeed in recruiting players.

“They told us it wouldn’t be … Sorry, I shouldn’t say that,” said Steigh about the management of Bishop Montgomery. “They mainly support winning now.”

When he pressed more details, Steigh said: “I can’t comment on any player at Mgr Montgomery.”

He said he had now decided to retire to support high school football programs.

Steigh said he was previously a traditional booster in Narbonne, making donations to help pay helmets, uniforms and a washing machine.

“In 2018, I decided to play the game that everyone played,” said Steigh. “The head coach at the time did not want to do that. It was all about me. I lied to him. These players arose. For what? I wanted to compete with private schools. I felt that they were unjust public schools left behind. ”

Four coaches from the Maritime League schools lost matches against Narbonne last season while demanding an investigation into the city section to find out if the transfers were paid to play for school.

“All these rumors during all these years are true,” said Steigh. “It was all me.”