Adam Brubaker has been fired as Royal High School’s football coach after video surfaced showing a football he kicked striking a student athlete in the groin during practice. The decision by the Simi Valley Unified School District came just hours before Royal High’s season-opening game on Friday, forcing an immediate change on the sideline.
The move followed a review of the incident, which was recorded earlier this week by a campus camera during a recent practice session. Royal High School football families were later informed through a statement from the school’s principal, while the school staff page showed the varsity head coach position as vacant before the district named Cody MacArthur as head coach for the game.
District acts after reviewing the footage
The key question after the video emerged was whether the district would take action, and the answer came quickly. After reviewing the incident, the Simi Valley Unified School District fired Adam Brubaker from his role leading the program.
That left Royal High School preparing for its opener with a different coach in charge only hours before kickoff. Cody MacArthur was named head coach for Friday night’s game, giving the team a sudden change at a critical moment.
Brubaker's account and remorse
Brubaker has described the moment as an accident. He said: “I kicked the ball and it hit him in the groin area and instantly I felt like I was going to pass out.”
He also said: “I feel obviously a great deal of remorse for what happened. It's a one in a million shot.”
Brubaker added that he apologized after practice, saying: “When we finished practice, I went back over to him. I apologized.”
He has also spoken about the personal strain of the past few days. “Nothing has been harder in my life than the last three days. It has been an absolute trying time for me, my wife, my kids,” he said.
A sudden change before the opener
For Royal High, the timing matters as much as the decision itself. Coaches can sometimes be replaced between games or across a long offseason, but this change came just hours before the school’s season-opening game.
That left the program with little time to settle on a new structure, and it made Cody MacArthur’s appointment a necessity rather than a gradual transition. The district’s decision means Royal High now moves into the new season under immediate pressure, with the focus shifting from the incident to how the team responds on the field.
