Mark Mauer, Hill-Murray football coach and Joe's cousin, arrested for soliciting prostitution [UPDATE]

Image by Tatiana Craine

Mauer will have a more complicated time promoting "strong Christian values" to his players in the future.

:::: UPDATE :::: Mauer has resigned as Hill-Murray football coach, Paul Blume of Fox 9 reports.

Original post from February 22 -- Mark Mauer, the Hill-Murray High School head football coach and a cousin of Joe Mauer, was arrested in Fridley this week for soliciting prostitution.

SEE ALSO: Joe Mauer has the second-worst contract in baseball, says Yahoo!

In his first season as head coach last year, Mauer, 54, led the Pioneers to the Class 4A state tournament quarterfinals. He's lived quite the eventful life -- in his earlier years he was drafted by the Twins, played quarterback for Nebraska, and served on the St. Paul City Council.

As Fridley Patch reports, Mauer's Tuesday arrest was part of a one-stop-shopping prostitution sting by the Fridley Police Department. From Patch:

The 19 men arrested [during Tuesday's prostitution sting] ranged in age from 23 to 56 and came from as far away as Edina, Rogers and Stillwater. (The day before, police used a similar sting to arrested four women ranging in age from 18-32 for prostitution.)

Fridley police booked four rooms at the LivInn Hotel for the operation. In one room, a female police officer working undercover met the men who answered ads offering sex... Across the hall, police monitoring the first room by video, waiting for the exchange of money for sexual favors before moving in to make an arrest. In a third room, police processed the men after their arrest. A fourth room served as a holding area where arrested men waited to be taken to the county jail in Anoka.

On the Hill-Murray football team's unfortunate-in-light-of-this-week's-news website, the program boasts that while it's about "blocking catching, running, and kicking," it's also about promoting "family values based on strong Christian values." Everybody sins now and then, we suppose.

But you would've thought Mark Mauer's ability to tell women "you know, I share 25 percent of my genes with my cousin Joe" would've made it easy for him to meet and mingle without having to resort to prostitution, right?