Hollister High School football team under investigation cancels its season

Hollister High School’s football season is officially over, as the district canceled the remainder of the varsity team’s schedule while the program undergoes an active investigation.

San Benito High School District Superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum announced this decision in a letter to the school’s community on Monday. According to the announcement, the district canceled the season because “the number of available student-athletes is not sufficient to safely field a team for the remainder of the scheduled games.”

After a 2-0 start to the season, Hollister and the district made the decision to place head football coach Thomas Sullivan on administrative leave on Sept. 10 and open an investigation into the program. Former head coach Chris Cameron took charge of the varsity team on an interim basis as it played the next game on its schedule the following day. But just hours before kickoff for the next scheduled matchup on Sept. 17, the school announced that the team would be forfeiting the game.

The district has remained tight-lipped on the decision to put Sullivan on leave and investigate Hollister’s football program. That continued in Monday’s announcement, although the part of the letter that touched on the matter was the longest public statement that San Benito has offered so far.

“Because the matter involves students and remains under review, the District is limited in the information it can provide,” Tennenbaum wrote. “Protecting student privacy and maintaining the integrity of the review are important considerations, and the District will not comment on individual students, confidential matters, or unverified information.

“We ask our community to respect the privacy of the students and families involved and to allow the District’s review to proceed appropriately. Additional information will be provided if and when it can be shared consistent with student privacy and applicable requirements.”

The teams that were scheduled to play Hollister this season will not be able to forgo the forfeited game on the schedule to play a nonconference opponent, according to Monterey Herald reporter John Devine.

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This article originally published at Hollister High School football team under investigation cancels its season.