Bishop Montgomery president Pat Lee resigns weeks after high school football scandal

The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles sent a letter Wednesday notifying Bishop Montgomery High families the school president resigned.

Bishop Montgomery High President Mr. Patrick Lee resigned on September 10, 2025, according to a release to families of the school; and just weeks after a scandal within the football program. / Bishop Montgomery

Bishop Montgomery High School president Patrick Lee has resigned, according to a letter from the Catholic Archdiocese to school families Wednesday, which High School On SI obtained.

The resignation comes just weeks after a drama-filled scandal within the football program became regional news due to ineligible players, an on-field scuffle in Hawaii, and a school booster named Brett Steigh — known as the 'Money Man' — admitted to paying players to play football for the Knights on the FATTAL FACTOR September 1.

As a result of all that, the school decided to cancel the 2025 varsity season on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

Letter to Bishop Montgomery families stating school president Patrick Lee resigned. / Catholic Archdiocese

The 'Money Man', who claimed to have met with Lee in January of 2025 to talk about how they could ramp up the football program, said this would happen on FATTAL FACTOR.

"I guarantee you Pat Lee will deny he knows me. And
that’s not true," Steigh said on the show.

On September 2, Lee told the LA Times he never met Steigh.

“Neither the principal nor I ever met this man, spoke to him, emailed him, texted him, nothing," Lee told the Times via text.

Steigh then called how it would all go down, and he pretty much nailed it.

"I already know how this goes. The Archdiocese will tell the school what to
do, and they’ll comply," Steigh said on FATTAL FACTOR. "It happened to St. Bernard the same exact way. ... Ed’s going to get fired, right? Then later, the Archdiocese will come back and fire Pat
and Michelle.”

Ed Hodgkiss was the football coach. He did get fired. Pat resigned today. The status of principal Michele Starkey is unknown, however, her staff profile still remains active on the school website. Pat Lee's is no longer there.

As of Wednesday night (Sept. 10), Bishop Montgomery families and football players are awaiting a decision from the CIF Southern Section on what to do moving forward. Will the players be allowed to transfer with no penalty? Will they have to serve the one-game suspension from the suspensions in Hawaii?

A decision from CIF is likely to come sometime this week.

AUDIO: Inside Bishop Montgomery admin-parent meeting
VIDEO: Inside Bishop Montgomery player-admin meeting

VARSITY SEASON CANCELED

The Archdiocese canceled Bishop Montgomery High School's varsity football season for the 2025 campaign after what's been a disastrous start to the season, riddled with CIF rule violations, drama and headlines.

"School Administration took immediate steps to address the situation in the best interest of our students and school community. The self-report and steps taken by our school have been accepted by CIF-SS. Therefore, with deep regret we inform you that the varsity football program has been suspended for the 2025 season and all games are forfeited," the school's press release said.

Bishop Montgomery press release suspending 2025 football season. / Bishop Montgomery

Bishop Montgomery is a small private catholic school located in Torrance, Calif.

The school will still offer junior varsity level football. This could make it challenging for players to transfer with no penalty. According to CIF rules, if a school doesn't offer a sport (or a program is axed), the student-athlete is free to transfer to any school without need of a valid change of residence or having to serve a sit-out period.

HOW IT STARTED

The freefall began August 20 before a game was ever played. Five football players were deemed ineligible by the CIF Southern Section office and hit with Bylaw 202 (falsifying info), which disqualifies the student-athletes from varsity competition at any CIF school for up to 24 months.

Sources have told High School On SI that Bishop Montgomery had 24 football transfers.

The influx of football transfers at Bishop Montgomery was so egregious that CIF Southern Section commissioner Mike West went to the school to meet with administration in early August.

“In the 27-plus years I’ve worked at the CIF Southern Section, I’d say it’s not standard operating policy for the commissioner to visit a school and its administration over transfers," assistant commissioner Thom Simmons said.

THE 'MONEY MAN'

Brett Steigh, known as the 'Money Man' of high school football scene in Southern California, said his piece Monday night on FATTAL FACTOR, a live show on Youtube hosted by sports reporter Tarek Fattal.

Steigh, a self-proclaimed gambler, Narbonne High graduate, booster and businessman admitted to paying families to play high school football at stops that included Narbonne High (in 2018-19, and again in 2024), St. Bernard, and most recently Bishop Montgomery.

When Steigh was asked what's the most he's given a family, he said:

"If the kid is nice and he's a pro about it ... like $50,000," said Steigh. "(On top of) rent — $50,000, yea. It might sound like a lot of money, right? But when you win $300,000 on a bet ... that's my money for the year to pay the guys."

THE ON-FIELD SCUFFLE IN HAWAII

As if that wasn't enough drama, Bishop Montgomery got into an on-field, sideline clearing scuffle in Hawaii when it went to play Saint Louis in Honolulu.

With under a minute to play in a 34-27 loss, Bishop Montgomery and Saint Louis players cleared its respective sidelines to meet at midfield in a light skirmish that involved players and coaches.

Because Bishop Montgomery cleared its sidelines, suspensions were handed down which resulted in the Knights having to forfeit its Week 1 game at No. 1 Mater Dei on August 29 due to a lack of players.

"Bishop Montgomery unfortunately does not have enough healthy and eligible players to safely field a team against Mater Dei at this time," school principal Michele Starke said in a statement.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported, "... tempers flared near the Saint Louis sideline. After some shoving, a Saint Louis player on the sideline ran three steps onto the field and backpedaled, triggering a penalty flag," the report reads.

"Then, a Saint Louis player yanked the helmet off a Bishop Montgomery player and both teams began to empty the benches into and ran to the hashmarks. Coaches on both sides berated each other at midfield."

feed

---

Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school sports news.

To get live updates on your phone — as well as follow your favorite teams and top games — you can download the SBLive Sports app: 

Download iPhone App | Download Android App