Hill-Murray football coach Mark Mauer resigned Tuesday from his duties with the Catholic school in the wake of his arrest in Fridley during a prostitution sting.

Mauer, 54, of Woodbury, "resigned this afternoon" in his first year as coach and as a major-gifts officer for the Maplewood school, Hill-Murray spokeswoman Sheri Lunn said Tuesday. Mauer was not a teacher there, Lunn said.

Mauer was one of 19 men and four women arrested Feb. 19 in a two-day sting at the LivINN Hotel on Central Avenue NE., officials said. The women are charged with prostitution and the men with soliciting.

Mauer is a member of a St. Paul family well-known for its athletic success -- Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer is his cousin.

Police say Mauer arrived at the hotel after making a date on the phone with an undercover officer, in response to an escort ad placed on an adult website. He agreed to pay her $100 for intercourse, then left to get the money and was arrested.

Mauer told police that he was just "messing around," that it was "stupid" to have gone there and that he had not intended to return when he left the room.

Mauer coached Hill-Murray last fall to an 8-3 record and a state tournament appearance. He had been head coach at Concordia (St. Paul) from 2004 to 2010.

Mauer served briefly on the St. Paul City Council in 1997, getting named after longtime friend and Council Member Dino Guerin resigned to join the Ramsey County Board. A month later, he was offered a job as an assistant coach at North Dakota State.

Mauer was a star quarterback at Harding High School in St. Paul and played football and baseball at the Nebraska. He has also worked as an assistant football coach at Wisconsin and New Mexico State.

KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, PAUL WALSH