You may have heard that Agnus Berenato is back in town, the one-time, long-time women’s basketball coach at Georgia Tech taking the job at Kennesaw State.
If not, just open your window. You’ll hear all about it soon enough.
For the big, effusive, eruptive, I-wish-my-arms-were-longer-so-I-could-hug-the-world personality that was Berenato’s trademark at Tech has survived the years as well as a couple moves.
Like she says, “I’m excited all the time. Life’s too short not to be.”
She may have promised herself that she would never coach again after being fired by Pitt in 2013. Toward that, she put up a very convincing front — investing close to three years buzzing her five grown kids, caring for her dying brother in Florida, hitting the speaking circuit and hanging out with hubby in their little place in Key Largo. Did her share of good works, too, volunteering with hospice and even going on a medical mission to Vietnam.
Turning 60 in December, Berenato had put in her time. Five years coaching at Rider (1981-85), 15 at Tech (1988-03, not including a couple years as an assistant) and another decade at Pitt when the Panthers hired her away (2003-13). Going winless in the Big East her final two seasons at Pitt after a splashy beginning — she’s still the winningest coach there — Berenato would have been excused for never stepping another foot in the gym. That was the plan.
Others knew better.
“Agnus always has had a passion for the game and a passion for leading young people,” MaChelle Joseph, the former assistant who succeeded Berenato at Tech back in 2003. “I knew she would get the itch. She loved the game too much and loved being around the student-athletes.”
It was April when Berenato got a call from a former Georgia Tech player, Cindy Gillam, now an administrative associate at KSU. Once the pleasantries stopped, the caller got around to the real reason for reaching out: There was an opening in Kennesaw that Berenato needed to fill.
No, no, no, Berenato said. She had just turned down a front office job with the WNBA Atlanta Dream. Worn down, Berenato finally conceded that if KSU athletic director Vaughn Williams called, she’d answer. Within seconds, her phone rang.
“I’m sitting on my porch in Key Largo, looking at the ocean. I started getting excited and fired up,” she remembered. “Everything (Williams) said I believed in; everything he said is my passion.” She was on a plane the next morning for a meeting and in the express lane to a new job.
There wasn’t a lot of looking back or hesitation involved.
The first house her realtor showed her in Kennesaw, Berenato bought. She was in a hurry to get back to campus.
In her first two meetings with her new team, the subject of basketball was barely raised. Instead, the coach reviewed certain life principles and academic expectations she considered primary.
By the summer, the Owls were well on their way to getting to know a different kind of coach. How about that rowdy game of Duck, Duck, Goose they found themselves in early in the process? Reserving to herself one hour a week of the scarce time allowed for offseason conditioning, Berenato instituted Coach B’s Surprise. It may consist of yoga one week, or salsa dancing the next. May be a run up Kennesaw Mountain, or, yes, a full contact version of Duck, Duck, Goose. The coach’s unrestrained laugh really filled the gym that day.
As well as implementing all the usual coaching demands, Berenato felt her new team was in need of something entirely else. “There was no joy. That’s the thing that shocked me the most,” she said.
Given 29 years of head coaching, you’re bound to leave a mark. This is the one Berenato left on Joseph, her former assistant at Tech who in 2015 eclipsed her predecessor’s win record on the Flats: “The thing I learned from Agnus is that it was bigger than basketball. She considered herself not a coach but an educator.”
The challenge at Kennesaw is nothing to laugh at. The Owls have had but one winning season since 2009. They were 41-80-4 the previous four seasons.
And the schedule this year paddles out to the deep end very early, with KSU already having played Vanderbilt up front (losing 86-54 Friday) and facing a tour of five state schools over 17 days. That includes meetings with both Georgia Tech and Georgia.
Ah, yes, Tech. That’s Wednesday night at Kennesaw State and it, oddly enough, marks the first time Berenato has matched up against her former employer since leaving there more than a dozen years ago. She almost gets weepy at the thought.
“They’re my kids, my people,” she said. Why just last week, she signed the daughter of one of her former players there.
“It’s very bittersweet to play Georgia Tech. Now, I’m going to try to give Georgia Tech a loss. I would never want Georgia Tech to have a loss. But it’s the business. I get my paycheck from KSU.”
The heart is fully elsewhere now. It doesn’t take some people very long to form strident attachments.
“I absolutely love being here. I love my team. The progress already has been astounding,” Berenato exclaimed.
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