Video Of Coach's 'Horseplay' Punch Gets Another Look

BEAUMONT (CBSLA) —  A video the Beaumont police are investigating shows football coach Will Martin in a classroom with his players, they laugh as he closes the far door.

Martin comes back and has one player put his hands up on his head. Moments later he hits that player in the stomach.

The Beaumont Unified School District put coach Martin on administrative leave after a parent showed them the video earlier this month. Some students don't understand why.

"Everybody's laughing and joking around, so I don't see why they're making such a big deal out of it," Anahi Santana said.

Football player Andrew Santana wasn't there when the video was taken, but he says the player involved has a close relationship with the coach.

"He looks to him as a father figure, he gives him rides and all that, buys him stuff.

But many people say this isn't how coaches should interact with high school players.

"It could be some kind of bet he lost, he did something wrong at practice and that's how they've always done it," Grandparent Ron Bolon said. "But it's something that shouldn't be out there."

Bolon says he'd never allow a coach to put their hands on his grandson.

"If it happened to my grandson, there'd be a lot more going on."

When the story broke, one parent equated it to horseplay.

"He barely touched the kid, they were horse playing," Parent Jeff Furtado told CBSLA last week.

And parent Dominique Buring doesn't think the video looks that bad.

"It would be different if he hit in the face or hit him in the head, but he gave him a gut shot and they were laughing," Buring said.

She hopes the coach doesn't lose his job because of this.

"Maybe he should be pulled aside and said 'hey we can't really have that,' but under no circumstances, do I think he should be fired."

Students have started a petition for the coach to keep his job.