BY JOE DARGAN
An ejection from Saturday’s game would’ve normally earned head football coach Bobby Godinez a suspension from next week’s match-up, but his punishment has been modified.
After being tossed with almost six minutes left to go in the third quarter against Southwestern College, Godinez was informed that, per Southern California Football Association rules, he would not be allowed to have contact with his team in preparation for the Oct. 13 game against conference rival Long Beach City College.
He would also be banned from Weingart Stadium while the game took place.
Due to a reduction in the severity of the discipline that was handed down, Godinez will not only be allowed to attend and participate in practices with his team leading up to the event, he will also be able to call plays for the Huskies during next week’s game.
The only caveat is that he will have to do it from the stands as he is not permitted to join the team on the field.
Godinez was initially flagged for vehemently arguing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
According to the coach, during the debate with a referee, he used the phrase, “you have got to be kidding me,” which the official took offense to.
“They claimed that the word ‘you’ was a personal attack on them and for any official or referee, that’s their prerogative. But in football sometimes you have to have thicker skin than that,” Godinez said.
Upon hearing this explanation, in an act of anger and impulse, the coach responded with profanity, causing the referee to throw him out of the game.
Godinez appealed to the commissioner of the SCFA, and after a review of all available video and audio evidence, he was able to clarify that the incident was not as egregious as first thought to be on the field.
“In our case to the commissioner, we kind of said, ‘I think they jumped the gun a little bit too fast.’ It was unfortunate that I was even put in that position during the game, but we were able to kind of justify it afterwards.”
The last time Godinez had been ejected from a game was in 2012 when he was the head coach of the Victor Valley College basketball team.
Before this incident, no record could be found of an East Los Angeles College football coach being ejected.
He will be allowed to return to the sideline in normal coaching fashion against College of the Canyons, who are also members of the South Coast Conference, on Oct. 20.