Ronnie Cunningham, football coach at Nathan Hale High School, has resigned, citing difficulties with a faction of parents.

One complaint stems from an incident in the final game of the 2003 season. Cunningham was accused of grabbing and shaking the facemask and poking the chest of a player who scuffled with a Bishop Blanchet opponent, resulting in offsetting unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties.

Cunningham said he doesn't remember if he grabbed the facemask but acknowledged he had done so at times in his nine years at Hale to get an important point across. He thinks most high-school coaches also have grabbed players' facemasks, too.

Cunningham said one reason he did so was to show referees that he doesn't tolerate fighting and has control of his team.

Cunningham, 36, was on leave from coaching last season to work on his now nearly completed Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Washington. He had promised his dying mother that he would complete the degree. The Hale administration planned for his return for the 2005 season.

Hale went 0-10 last fall under interim coach Stan Boone, an assistant under Cunningham.

Boone is known to have had more parent involvement in the program. Some parents liked his responsiveness, his easy-going style and innovations that included a steak-for-good-grades program and an overnight retreat.

Parents also complained that Cunningham's job at a nonprofit educational enrichment program had forced him to miss one day of practice a week the final half of the season. They also complained he was tardy too often and that coaches swore too much.

Cunningham said the player whose facemask was shaken, Doug Heinekey, now at student at the University of British Columbia, has e-mailed him saying that any parent who believes the coach did something wrong "lacks an understanding of the way players and coaches interact. ... Nathan Hale is losing a great coach, and I want everyone to know you did nothing wrong."

Heinekey couldn't be reached for comment, but his mother said the family didn't complain about the incident and she confirmed that her son supported Cunningham.

Cunningham is black and the majority of students at Hale are white. "Did the fact I'm black have anything to do with it?" Cunningham said of the situation. "I don't know. But that thought certainly has crossed my mind."

Cunningham had a 22-61 record at Hale, including 1-9 in 2003. His tenure includes the only two winning seasons the Lake City school has had since the early 1980s. His 2002 team won the state academic-championship for best grades. and he was 1996 Metro League Coach of the Year.

Hale athletic director Emerson Davis said the school administration wanted Cunningham to return. "He did a tremendous job here," Davis said. "I think the world of the guy. ... I'm sorry he's being vilified for the facemask issue."

Davis said he never had received a complaint about Cunningham until the facemask episode.

"I'm frustrated, I'm sad, and I'm really disappointed," Cunningham said.