Christian Mahaffey, head football coach at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, California, has been fired after the team quit in protest of a teammate being kicked off the team.

Senior wide receiver/defensive end Guillermo Salazar was kicked off the team after informing coach Mahaffey that he would miss a game to attend a baseball showcase in Arizona. Salazar is a college baseball prospect.

The rest of the team caught wind of this and in protest quit and administrators at the school told Mahaffey told bring all the players back, including Salazar, but he refused and the school had no choice but to fire him.

Principal Brian Ginter said, "He felt he couldn't be able to coach effectively if that happened and that he would not do that. So at that particular time, I had to let him go."

Mahaffey, a 17 year coach of the program including the last four as head coach, feels he did nothing wrong and wasn't going to let his players bully him.

"I felt I was painted into a corner,” said Mahaffey, “I tried to stand up for the right thing and still think I have. … I couldn't coach a group of kids who bullied their way back on the football team."