Evanston further limits competition with Loyola following Ramblers coach’s reported comments

A Loyola Academy coach’s alleged vulgar remarks have widened an athletics rift between the Wilmette Catholic high school and Evanston Township High School, according to emails reviewed by The Record.

Two witnesses to the reported behavior on Feb. 19 told The Record that Ramblers head girls basketball coach Jeremy Schoenecker called Wildkits head coach Brittany Johnson a “bitch” multiple times when the two teams matched up in an Illinois High School Association postseason game.

The alleged comments drew an email from ETHS Athletic Director Christopher Livatino to Loyola AD Genevieve Atwood in which Livatino said the Wildkits will not compete against Loyola varsity girls basketball unless the teams happen to meet in the playoffs.

Schoenecker did not respond to The Record’s request for comment. Loyola Academy said in an email that it was “aware of the allegation” and “has reviewed” the incident but does not comment on personnel matters.

The school’s email also said, “Loyola remains committed to fostering an environment rooted in sportsmanship, respect, and integrity within our athletic programs and across our school community.” 

An IHSA spokesperson said the organization is not investigating the incident, but through its policies, the spokesperson said, the IHSA does have the authority to discipline participating coaches when appropriate.

Schoenecker’s alleged remarks Feb. 19 happened on the same night and after Loyola student spectators were ejected from the basketball game for an in-game comment toward a Wildkits player — a comment a statement from ETHS called “racist and dehumanizing.”

The student’s comment caused a game stoppage and remains under IHSA investigation.

The following week, Loyola Academy President Gregory Ostdiek visited ETHS to issue an apology, part of a Loyola response that ETHS School Board members criticized during a March meeting, the Evanston RoundTable reported. Board President Pat Savage-Williams called Loyola’s response “profoundly insufficient.”

ETHS parents Tracy Juell and Martha King told The Record they heard Schoenecker’s comments toward Johnson, who has led the Wildkits for 10 years and is an assistant athletic director at ETHS, on Feb. 19.

Per Juell, after Evanston’s coach criticized Schoenecker’s team aggressive play late in the Ramblers’ resounding victory that night, Schoenecker walked down the sideline away from the Wildkits coach and said “(expletive) bitch,” a comment Juell said was about Johnson and overheard by several game attendees.

Following the game, King said she approached Schoenecker outside of the gymnasium and referenced his alleged comment about Johnson. Schoenecker reportedly replied by again referring to Johnson as a “bitch” multiple times and telling King that the two coaches have “history.”

In the email to Atwood on Feb. 25, which The Record obtained via a public-records request, Livatino called Schoenecker’s alleged remarks “sexist and hurtful” and said ETHS would no longer schedule Loyola girls basketball as an opponent, as long as Schoenecker was the team’s head coach.

Schoenecker, also an assistant athletic director at the school, has collected more than 400 wins as the Ramblers head coach since 2008. His teams have competed in four IHSA state finals, including three straight, winning a state championship to cap an undefeated (38-0) season in 2024.

“He’s in a position with young women that for him to show that kind of contempt for another woman is just disgusting,” King said. “He should be a role model and held to higher standards.”

A followup email between Livatino and Atwood indicates that the two athletic directors had a phone conversation in which they discussed Loyola’s internal review of the allegations against Schoenecker. In that email, Livatino provided Atwood with contact information for “two adults who witnessed” Schoenecker’s remarks and spoke with him in the hallway on Feb. 19.

The adults’ names are redacted in the file provided to The Record; however, Juell and King said they provided Livatino with their contact information. Neither heard from Loyola Academy, they said.

The messages from Livatino also indicate that conflicts between the two schools’ athletics programs are not new. Without providing detail, Livatino in his email referred to an incident with Loyola fans at a baseball game and with a Loyola coach during a girls soccer game.

Neither Livatino or Atwood responded to provide more information on those incidents, but in the email to Atwood, Livatino said that Evanston had removed Loyola from its regular-season schedules in both sports.

Evanston and Loyola competed against each other in regular-season girls soccer and baseball contests in 2025 but are not scheduled to play each other in either sport this spring.

“If we have to endure any further issues like this going forward, we will just stop competing with Loyola in every sport across the board,” he wrote to Atwood.

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