After players complain, Loyola Academy kicks varsity girls’ soccer coach

Loyola Academy fired its head coach for varsity girls’ soccer last week following allegations of inappropriate behavior toward team members.

The Wilmette high school announced Sunday night that coach Craig Snower had been terminated Thursday after administrators received several confidential complaints alleging that Snower made inappropriate or offensive comments toward some of the players.

“Loyola Academy is committed to maintaining a safe environment for our students and their well-being is our highest priority,” according to an emailed statement from the school.

The exact nature or content of Snower’s comments could not immediately be confirmed.

Snower was fired just two days after the team won the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference championship with a 2-0 victory over St. Francis High School from Wheaton, with whom they had been tied for first place.

The team played their last home game of the season Friday, beating Stevenson High School from Lincolnshire, 1-0.

While coaching at Loyola, Snower also served as girls’ director for the FC United club soccer program based in Glenview, according to FC United’s website. It was unclear if he was still a director for that program.

Snower was no longer listed as a coach on the Loyola Academy website, and no head coach replacement had been named. He had no comment when reached by the Sun-Times on Monday.

Assistant coaches Scott Ackman and Jordan Kellgren were listed as the team’s only coaches. Neither could be reached for comment Sunday evening.

Athletic Director Patrick Mahoney had no comment on Sunday.

Wilmette police had no comment.