The president of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana is leaving in the wake of an alleged hazing scandal involving the school’s storied football program.

Father Walter E. Jenkins, who started at Mater Dei in July, stepped down from the school at the end of the winter break, according to a letter sent Saturday by Erin Barisano, the superintendent of schools for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.

Jenkins, a priest, will return to South Bend, Ind., to “take on a new assignment” with his religious order, the Congregation of Holy Cross, Barisano said.

His departure follows weeks of controversy for Mater Dei, its powerhouse football program and longtime head coach Bruce Rollinson. A lawsuit filed in late November by the family of a former football player accused Mater Dei and the Diocese of Orange of trying to cover up a brutal locker room altercation that left the player with a traumatic brain injury.

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