MADERA - Just days after his Madera High Coyote varsity football team was trounced by the Bullard Knights on live television, head coach Bonner Cunnings is on administrative leave for striking a student athlete. The Madera Police Department is investigating.
At the Monday practice a 15 year-old boy from the junior varsity team was taunting Cunnings about his recent weight gain. At some point in the practice the boy allegedly slapped or pitched the coach's belly saying, "putting on the weight coach."
Reports from witnesses say the coach spun to his left hitting the boy in the mouth splitting his lip open and causing bleeding. The entire incident supposedly happened in from of the rest of the Madera High coaching staff. Parents have said that the incident was also caught on video, but that did not turn out to be true. Photos of the victim have been taken by the Madera Police Department to document his injuries.
Tuesday Cunnings was allowed to clean out his office under the supervision of Madera High School Principal Alan Hollman. According to Madera Unified Superintendent Edward Gonzales, "There has been an allegation that a [Madera High] football coach engaged in misconduct on Monday at practice. The coach has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation by the District and a separate investigation by the Madera PD. Assistant coaches will fill the void for the Friday night game."
Commander Dino Lawson of the Madera Police Department had this to say of the police investigation, "We are investigating a misdemeanor battery on a junior varsity football player perpetrated by the Madera High varsity football coach. Our report should be on the desk of district attorney by Tuesday. At that time they will make the determination whether or not Mr. Cunnings with be charged with a crime."
While we will not release the name of the victim, this boy's father has been an employee with the Madera Police Department for more than a decade. The boy has been involved in youth sports for most of that time and has excelled without incident. He was even a member of a local Little League's All Star team for three years.
In 2011 Cunnings was a varsity coach at Lemoore High School. Despite an 8-4 record and advancing his team to the Central Section Division II semi-finals, Bonner did not return as head coach the next year. Instead he took a position as a defensive coordinator position for Madera High School.
Madera High School athletics was struck with scandal that year with a riot at the end of a preseason varsity football scrimmage and a varsity football player was caught selling access to the MHS Athletic Director's attendance database. Following the resignation of head football coach Scott McKinney at the end of the season, Cunnings was named to replace him as varsity football coach for the 2013/14 year.
During Cunnings first year as a coach, he benched a starting player after the athlete's father wrote a negative review about the coach's performance on the field. The coach also had issues with articles that appeared on this website, Big Valley News and this season did not issue the online newspaper a sidelines pass for the MHS home games.
With senior football players Cunnings inherited from Coach McKinney like quarterback Nathan Nelson and reciever Alec Gamboa, Madera High's 2014 varsity team racked-up eight CIF Central Section & MHS passing records during the coach's second season.
