Bellarmine assistant resigns after players take a knee
Jacob Malae was a star defensive lineman for the Bellarmine College Prep football program a quarter century ago, his passion for the San Jose Jesuit school unquestioned. Now a junior varsity assistant at his alma mater and in law enforcement in the Bay Area, Malae dreamed of one day leading the storied program.
But he can no longer support the school’s administration.
When a small group of varsity players took a knee during the national anthem at a recent football game, calling it a silent protest against social injustice and for the marginalized, Malae did not stand quietly.
He wrote a long resignation letter and submitted it to Bellarmine president Chris Meyercord, noting that he would continue as a junior varsity coach for the remainder of the season but would no longer assist the varsity team, which JV coaches commonly do.
Malae’s decision is a small piece to an ongoing national debate that returned to the headlines this weekend when former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL, claiming that collusion by the owners as a result of his protests is the reason he remains an unsigned free agent.
But the coach’s stance is an example of how divisive the issue is, no matter the side. The Bellarmine protest last month, before the team’s 48-0 loss to Serra at San Jose City College, struck a deep nerve inside and outside the school’s community that has not cooled in the two weeks since.
Reached by the Bay Area News Group, Malae said that his job precluded him from giving a formal interview on the topic. But this publication obtained a copy of Malae’s resignation letter, which called for Meyercord to consider resigning and cited examples of two football team rules that prohibit players from putting themselves above the team.
The letter stresses that Bellarmine coaches constantly emphasize the program’s core values of doing things as a unit, not in fragments, and that the protest by a portion of the team at the all-boys school violated that decree.
“The act of kneeling during the National Anthem doesn’t create dialogue, it creates division,” Malae wrote. “People are talking about the what, not the why. And that is unfortunate and shameful. It is unfortunate because the seemingly well intended act of a few is causing undue harm to the whole.
“It is shameful because BCP not only knew (or should have known) this was going to happen, but didn’t do anything to stop it. As adults in this equation, it is our fundamental duty to act when we know, or eventually realize, that irreparable harm is being done.”
Meyercord did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in an interview the night of the protest, he said, “Their intent was really to draw attention to people they feel are marginalized, people of color, immigrants in all different kinds of communities that they feel are not getting enough support, enough attention.”
Bellarmine coach Mike Janda declined to comment Monday, referring questions to Meyercord.
Malae, in his letter, suggested that the Bellarmine administration should have redirected the players to raise their concerns in another forum.
“Challenge these young men to be stewards of the best of Jesuit schools — seek truth, be intolerant of injustice, but do so in a way everyone wins — the communities and groups that they referenced in their letter, the current student body, alumni and the institution,” he wrote.
Malae added that he and his family would no longer attend varsity games.