Edinburg CISD coach testifies in hearing accusing him of forcing students to work out naked
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Testimony has begun in the trial against Edinburg Vela High School Head Football Coach Ernie Alonzo.
Alonzo is accused of forcing several students to work out naked. Two lawsuits were filed against Alonzo and testimony began on Tuesday for only one of those lawsuits.
This lawsuit was filed in September 2025 by a student identified as N.R. It alleges that on March 22, 2024, Alonzo ordered N.R. to perform "strenuous physical activity" completely nude. N.R. attempted to cover himself with underwear, but Alonzo threatened and ordered him to remain nude.
Coach Alonzo took the stand briefly before a five-minute break was taken after he refused to answer questions from the defense.
Alonzo was asked if he thought it was appropriate to have a student exercise naked to which he said "it depends on what you consider nude."
He said he never authorized students to workout naked and called the accusing students liars.
The defense asked if he'd allow another coach force his own son to workout naked and Alonzo said no, but that's not what he did.
RELATED STORY: Second lawsuit filed against Edinburg CISD football coach who allegedly forced students to work out nude
Statements Alonzo allegedly made included "I don't care you're naked, you're going to do it," "I don't give a dame about the towel. The longer you take, the longer you need to do the up and downs," "I don't give a damn about the towels, start running your legs."
A lawyer asked even though co-defendants said the incident did happened, if Alonzo was still denying it? Alonzo then claimed "an incident" did happen but he says he didn't force anyone to exercise naked.
Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Mario Salinas, district Police Chief Ricardo Perez Jr. and Athletic Director Oscar Salinas were also called to the stand.
The lawsuit said a police investigation was initiated but halted by "unnamed ECISD administrators" who opted for a toothless internal review.
An Edinburg CISD Police Department investigator admitted the case was credible but there was no criminal referral, according to the lawsuit.
During Superintendent Salinas' testimony, he said he was never ordered to close the investigation and he never ordered anyone to close it either.
He said he did not authorize a report be sent to the Hidalgo County District Attorney's Office and that district police investigations were independent from him.
Superintendent Salinas also said the lawsuit did not affect his decision to retire as superintendent at the end of the year.
A conflict of interest was also brought up between Superintendent Salinas and the law firm representing him.
In one of the lawsuits, it named Superintendent Salinas in his individual capacity for intentional acts that fall outside his employment.
The law firm representing Superintendent Salinas is also representing the school district. The plaintiff claims that is a conflict of interest.
The judge is expected to make a motion to disqualify the firm by the end of the week.
Perez also took the stand. The defense filed a motion to quash the subpoena to have him testify claiming it was not relevant to the case. The plaintiff argued the case was repeatedly delayed due to missing documents and subpoenas.
The motion to quash was denied.
Perez said he was asked at 5 p.m. Monday to submit relevant documents by 8 p.m. that same day. He said he tried his best to get everything but there wasn't enough time and he is not sure if more documents would be available.
Athletic Director Salinas also testified. He said the incident was not appropriate and he was not in the room when it occurred.
He said he found out about it on Monday and reprimanded Coach Alonzo on April 17, days after the incident occurred.
A hearing for the second lawsuit filed by three other students has yet to be scheduled.
Watch the video above for the full story.
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