The NIL era hasn’t only caused a new layer of problems for college football and its players, but once California became the first state to allow high school athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL), the world changed and a new generation of teenage sports stars gained access to a finanical world once reserved for college and professional players. The new “pay-for-play” era hasn’t eliminated the predatorial culture that exists with boosters and opportunists and overzealous programs.
According to reports, there’s one notorious “bag man” who says he made a fortune gambling, that has been corrupting the sport of football at the high school level, throughout the state of California
Bishop Montgomery High School Football Suspends Season Due To Investigation
A private high school in California has forfeited its entire 2025 football season amid allegations that a notorious booster funded the illegal transfers of five players to the team. Bishop Montgomery High School, located in Torrance, a city in the Los Angeles area – announced Tuesday that it was suspending its season due to an ‘internal investigation in coordination with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Department of Catholic Schools’.
Bishop Montgomery Brought In 20 Transfers, Five Were Illegal
According to reports, the school self-reported violations after it was discovered this week that Brett Steigh, described as an “an infamous high-school booster” — helped secure a number of illegal transfers in hopes of circumventing zoning rules and stacking their varsity football team.
Suspicions arose during the offseason when the school brazenly completed over 20 transfers. After an investigation, the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section ruled on August 20, that five of those transfers were ineligible. It was found that the school violated a key bylaw about ‘providing incorrect, inaccurate, incomplete or false information’.
Brett Steigh Admits To Sports Illustrated That He Paid Parents To Transfer To Torrance Program
The stuff hit the fan when Steigh went on a live podcast to talk about his role in helping some Southland high schools, such as Narbonne and Bishop Montgomery, secure transfer players by paying parents.
“Everything I did, I did it on my own. I had no help,” Steigh said during an interview on the FATTAL FACTOR podcast on Monday. “I take full responsibility for everything.”
“We recognize the gravity of this situation, and we are deeply sorry for the lapses in oversight that resulted in violations of CIF-SS regulations,” school officials said in a statement to parents and the Bishop Montgomery community on Tuesday. “We are instituting corrective actions aimed at ensuring compliance and preventing such issues in the future.”
School president Patrick Lee denies having knowledge of everything transpiring, and says any accusations that school officials were aware of Steigh’s action is an ‘outright lie.
Steigh Has Corrupted Other High School Programs
Steigh has a history of such tactics as he bought players for Narbonne – the school he graduated from in 1992 – and St. Bernard. Bishop Montgomery becomes the third school to be stained with penalties and violations because of an association with Steigh.
Narbonne was hit with sanctions in 2018 for illegal transfers, leading to a ban from the postseason in 2019 and 2020 while being forced to vacate its 2018 title.That lead to several teams refusing to play against them in protest. So Steigh is obviously pretty brazen with his opertations. Preying on high school kids and their parents. He’s not seven selling dreams. He’s handing oiut straight checks.
Steigh Says Most Of His Money Came From Gambling: Corrupted Several Programs
It seems like when it came to dirty business, Steigh had a team of accomplices at his various destinations. Steigh reportedly started dropping bags on kids for St. Bernard when they hired former Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas in 2019.
In previous reports, Douglas told the Los Angeles Times that Steigh dropped almost $1 million on payments to fund freshman transfers and school improvements. His involvement in that school didn’t last long. An investigation by the FBIO and IRS led to St. Bernard suspending its football season from 2021-23.
Brett Steigh Says He Wanted To Help Even The Score In Resources
In an interview, Steigh said he has good intentions.
“It started in 2015,” he said. “I donated the basics — washing machine, ice machine, uniforms and helmets. I would give the money to the coach to buy uniforms.
“In 2018, the coach didn’t want to do this. I lied to him and the players showed up.”
Why?
“I wanted to compete with the private schools. I felt that it was unfair the public schools get left. Who would admit to do this but me? Who else could do it but me? All these rumors for all these years, it’s true. I do what I do. All me, 100 percent and I’m happily out of this game.”