Bishop Montgomery President Patrick Lee has resigned from his position, the school confirmed Thursday morning.
Lee was appointed as Bishop Montgomery’s first president by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on July 1, 2024.
The announcement of Lee’s resignation was made by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
“I pray this correspondence finds you well. I am writing on behalf of the Department of Catholic Schools to share that Mr. Patrick Lee has resigned as president of Bishop Montgomery High School effective today. We thank Mr. Lee for his ministry in Catholic education and pray for God’s divine providence to lead him and his family forward.
“In the coming days, we will be sharing an interim leadership plan with the school community. We will continue to work closely with Dr. (Michelle) Starkey and the school administration to ensure Bishop Montgomery students are engaged, supported and successful in their education and formation as disciples of Christ.”
This is more fallout from the drama surrounding Bishop Montgomery’s football program. The school announced this month that the team was forfeiting its remaining games this season after finding more CIF Southern Section rule violations and learning of the involvement of local booster Brett Steigh.
When the school announced that the varsity football program was suspended for the 2025 season, it confirmed the violation of more CIF-SS bylaws: “As part of an ongoing internal investigation, in coordination with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Department of Catholic Schools, school administration self-reported to the CIF-SS additional violations of CIF-SS bylaws related to transfer students.”
The Knights received a lot of attention with the arrival of more than 20 transfers during the offseason. Five players were eventually deemed ineligible due to violation of CIF Bylaw 202 and falsifying information. Then came a late-game fight in the Knights’ season-opener in Hawaii, which led to suspensions that forced the Knights to forfeit their game against Mater Dei.
The boulder continued to roll downhill, with the firing of coach Ed Hodgkiss and then Steigh’s bombshell appearance on the “Fattal Factor” podcast, in which he confessed to paying the parents of football players in the past at Narbonne and St. Bernard and recently at Bishop Montgomery.
Steigh said on the podcast he had met Lee and that’s what started the process of him “helping” Bishop Montgomery attract transfers. Lee told the L.A. Times that “neither the principal nor I ever met this man, spoke to him, emailed him, texted him, nothing.”
In another twist in the saga, Si.com reported that the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles sent Steigh a cease and desist letter, requesting him to “cease and desist from engaging in any activities related to sports programs at the Catholic schools of the Archdiocese.”
“The Archdiocese does not condone violations of CIF-SS Bylaws at its high schools. Therefore, I am hereby requesting that you cease and desist from undertaking any activities, whether or not covered by Bylaw 510, involving any sports programs at any Catholic school in the Archdiocese.”
The South Bay schools in the Department of Catholic schools, include Bishop Montgomery, Serra, Mary Star, St. Bernard and St. Mary’s Academy.