Former Long Beach Poly, Lakewood, and Millikan football coach Justin Utupo says the Long Beach Unified School District has ruled on his appeal, and reduced a previously-announced lifetime ban to three years. Utupo was fired from Poly after an LBUSD investigation found he and his coaching staff had been involved in falsifying address change paperwork for transfers.
The results of the investigation included that “Poly’s walk-on head coach has been released from employment with the District and will no longer be able to coach in Long Beach USD.”
Utupo said that after nearly a decade of coaching at three LBUSD schools, and as an LBUSD product, he was surprised and hurt by the initial ruling.
“That really hurt because for almost a decade I’ve been serving the community that’s done so much for me,” he said. “My wife and I have two kids in the district, they’re actively playing sports–us being involved in their careers through high school, we’d love to be able to help coach them.
“Ultimately, we live in Long Beach and we want to serve the student-athletes and community here in whatever way we can.”
Utupo said that despite having a favorable resolution to his appeal, he’s still sick about the way last year went. After successful tenures at Millikan and his alma mater Lakewood, his lone season at Poly was a disappointment, with a 5-5 Jackrabbit team forfeiting a win and voluntarily withdrawing from the playoffs due to CIF-SS transfer rule violations.
“This doesn’t change what happened last year and my heart still breaks for the 2025 Poly football team,” he said. “I felt like we were just getting healthy and hitting our stride. I feel for the seniors–I’m deeply sorry and apologize to the players and families for what they experienced under my leadership.
“I’m happy there’s no further CIF sanctions (for the school), and that some of the players who were banned will have the opportunity to appeal and return to play next year.”
Utupo was the first Polynesian head coach at all three of the Moore League schools he coached, making history for the Rams, Lancers, and Jackrabbits.
