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Don Markham's second stint as Rialto High School football coach ended before he coached a game, as the veteran coach resigned Thursday in the wake of an investigation by the Rialto Unified School District on allegations of misconduct by the coach.

Markham delivered the resignation to Rialto athletic director Dan Williams Thursday morning at the prompting of Williams and Rialto principal Andreas Luna. Markham, who has won 309 games and five CIF titles in an illustrious career, tried to rescind the resignation later in the day but was told that it was final.

The Rialto Unified School District decided earlier this week not to renew the contract of Rialto High football coach Eric Rodriguez according to RUSD's Public Information Officer Syeda Jafri.

"Mr. Rodriguez was on a seasonal year-to-year contract and the prinicipal decided to take the football program in another direction," Jafri said. "Mr. Rodriguez is a valued employee and we appreciate the effort he has put out, but the decision was made to go in another direction."

Rodriguez coached the Knights for three years, accumulating a 3-27 record. Ironically, his last game - a 23-7 victory over Fontana High School this past Friday - was his first Citrus Belt League win. Attempts to reach Rodriguez for comment have been unsuccessful to this point.

As for the new coach, RUSD is accepting applications until next Wednesday according to Jafri. The applications will be evaluated after the Thanksgiving holiday.