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Two Orem High assistant football coaches resigned and a third is expected to after school administration gave them the option to step down or be terminated after the Tigers' game against East on Saturday for violating warnings about their behavior.

First-year Orem head coach Jeremy Hill said it was an administrative decision to remove offensive coordinator Matt Manuma and linebackers coach Vai Notoa — both officially resigned — from their positions. Defensive line coach Tevita Finau is also expected to step down, but Hill said he doesn't "know, officially, on him."

"It was not my decision; [it] was out of my control," Hill said. "They were given several warnings about behavior, violated those again and again, and the administration stepped in and made a change."

Orem principal Mike Browning declined to discuss specifics, but he confirmed that behavior-related issues were the root cause. Hill has assumed the role of offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator J'Ray Galeai will oversee the linebackers in addition to his regular responsibilities.

Notoa has since contacted Alta coach Alema Te'o, who expressed interest in hiring him full time as an assistant coach for the Hawks, who compete in the same region as Orem. Notoa's son D'Arman Naotoa is the star senior running back for the Tigers and is expected to transfer to Alta if his father is hired.

Alta principal Brian McGill said "nothing has been signed. We haven't had a meeting. Nothing has been confirmed," in reference to Vai Notoa joining the Hawks coaching staff.

"Before any coach is hired on staff, there is a formal process we have to go through," McGill said. "You have to fill out an application, they have to do a background check, contracts have to be signed and formulated. None of that stuff has taken place."

UHSAA attorney Mark Van Wagoner said he's unaware of an example of a coach being fired midseason, accepting a position at another school and having a son or daughter transfer, but "that doesn't mean it [hasn't] happened; it just means I've never heard of it."

Van Wagoner said the conditions on why the coach left the previous school would not matter, but whether he was tenured as a paid member of the new coaching staff would. Notoa will be compensated at Alta, Te'o said.

"The standard way this has been handled — it's not a free pass, but if the conditions are met, he can go with his father to a school where the father can show he's being paid by the district," Van Wagoner said.

When asked whether he held any reservations about hiring Notoa, after he was reportedly fired for behavioral issues, Te'o said, "Absolutely not, because I've known Vai for years. Defensively, he's going to help us for sure. Whatever happened down there, that's between him and them. I don't foresee those types of problems happening here with us."

Asked the same question about hiring Notoa, McGill said, "I would need to investigate that and have a formal conversation with Mike Browning."