Fired high school coach says she was told to watch how much she played 'brown kids'

A girls high school basketball coach in Nevada who was recently fired said she was warned before the season about “brown kids” on scholarship getting more playing time at the expense of white players.

Bishop Manogue Catholic High School coach Sara Schopper-Ramirez was fired after a 26-1 season in which she said she played the best players, many of whom were minorities. Schopper-Ramirez said she believes she was fired for not following the directions.

Schopper-Ramirez said that in a meeting with school President Matthew Schambari and Athletic Director Frank Lazarak in August, Schambari told her to watch the perception that minority students who attend the Reno private school on scholarships were getting more playing time.

Schopper-Ramirez recorded the conversation. She provided a 30-second clip to the Reno Gazette Journal with a man whom she said is Schambari speaking. The Reno Gazette Journal is part of the USA TODAY Network.

On the recording, a man’s voice can be heard saying, “You have a disproportionate amount of your kids are financial aid kids, right, and they are coming from public schools, and then you have these Catholic school kids. You have, your, probably your team and football are probably our two most diverse teams,” the man says. “And so that is going to create some issues with our parent community.”

The man on the recording continues, “I think that we've got to be super intentional about not supporting or creating a narrative where it looks like, oh we're bringing in, we are paying to bring in these brown kids to come win us basketball games and the white kids don’t get to play."

Bishop Manogue confirmed on Friday that Lazarak, the athletic director, recently resigned.

Schambari said in a statement he was only made aware of the recording on Friday. He said he has not heard the recording so cannot verify it.

"Nevertheless, I deeply regret any hurt these remarks, as they have been presented, may have caused," Schambari's statement said.

"The conversation in question – which was recorded without my knowledge or consent – was part of a broader discussion about athletics, the treatment of our student-athletes, and the coach’s professionalism on and off the court. Unfortunately, the entirety of this constructive discussion was not fully captured," he said.

Schambari said Schopper-Ramirez's firing was "solely based on what Bishop Manogue felt was in the best interest of our student-athletes because of her behaviors and actions for several seasons."

Schopper-Ramirez, who had been Bishop Manogue's head coach since 2020, led the Miners to the Class 4A state championship in February. The team had a 26-1 overall record and 16-0 league mark this past season.

"I played my best players this season," Schopper-Ramirez told the RGJ on Friday morning.

“I have not even researched who has scholarships,” she said. “I played the players that work hard and get the job done.”

She also said no athletes at Manogue receive athletic scholarship, only academic ones.

The Catholic school's website says it has 770 students and 25 percent receive financial assistance. Tuition is listed as being $15,075 for the 2024-25 school year.