The Simi Valley Unified School District fired Adam Brubaker as Royal High School’s football coach on Friday, hours before the team was set to open its season, after reviewing a video from a recent practice that showed a football striking a student athlete in the groin.
That made the firing immediate and public at the worst possible moment for the program. A school campus camera recorded the incident, and the district’s decision left Royal High School scrambling to make a leadership change on the day of its season-opening game. The school told football families that Cody MacArthur would serve as Head Coach for the team that night, with an interim head coach to be named shortly.
The footage, obtained by Eyewitness News, appears to show Brubaker moving toward a player and then kicking a nearby football in a way that sent it into the student athlete’s groin, knocking him to the ground in pain. Brubaker said the incident was accidental. He said he became upset after one of the players violently pulled a running back to the ground, and said he was not aiming at the player.
Brubaker also said he apologized after practice and that he understood the district’s decision to fire him. In his own words, he said he felt a great deal of remorse and described the shot as “one in a million.” He said the last three days had been an absolute trying time for him, his wife and his kids, underscoring how quickly the incident turned from a practice sideline moment into a career-ending school decision.
The district has not said whether any further discipline or investigation will follow, leaving the firing as the only confirmed step so far. For Royal High School, the more immediate reality is simpler and harsher: the season begins with a different coach, a vacant spot on the coaching roster, and a controversy that will follow the program long after Friday night.
