Kennesaw State University Athletics

Agnus Berenato has earned a reputation of turning around struggling programs and building them into winners. After four seasons as the head coach of the Kennesaw State women’s basketball program, the veteran head coach has the Owls trending in the right direction.
 
In her 33 seasons as a head coach, Berenato has a record of 483-489, including a 39-77 mark in four seasons at KSU. She has six 20-win seasons in her career and 11 postseason appearances.
 
In her first four seasons, Berenato guided Kennesaw State to two ASUN Conference Tournament victories, including upsetting No. 2 Stetson in the 2019 championship.
 
Under Berenato’s leadership, Kennesaw State has reached the ASUN Tournament semifinal round twice. She also coached three consecutive ASUN Freshman of the Year winners and helped Alexis Poole earn the league’s scoring title in 2019-20 on her way to being named the Atlanta Tipoff Club Player of the Year in the state of Georgia.
 
In Berenato’s tenure, the Owls have earned two first-team All-ASUN selections, two second-team All-ASUN selections, four All-Freshman Team selections and three ASUN Freshman of the Year awards.
 
True to her dedication to academics, KSU has earned seven ASUN All-Academic team honors in four years, including placing three members on the team 2019-20 to tie the ASUN record for most selections in a year by a single school.
 
In the fall of 2019, the team achieved a team grade point average of 3.37, as all 10 student-athletes were above a 3.0 GPA with four students landing on the Dean’s List. In the summer of 2019, the Owls ranked No. 20 in the WBCA academic rankings and were the only program from the ASUN to receive the honor as well as the only program in the state of Georgia to be recognized on the list. KSU ended the 2018-19 season with a 3.54 cumulative GPA.
 
Berenato earned national recognition in 2019 when the WBCA presented her with the Carol Eckman Integrity in Coaching Award at the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four.
 
Berenato came to Kennesaw State with the distinction of being the winningest coach at the University of Pittsburgh and the second-winningest at Georgia Tech. Within three years of assuming head-coaching duties at Georgia Tech, she led the Yellow Jackets to the 1992 WNIT championship. The next year, Georgia Tech made its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
Two years after taking the helm at Pitt, the Panthers rattled off five consecutive postseason berths, including back-to-back NCAA Sweet 16’s in 2008 and 2009. Berenato has won 483 games in her 33-year head coaching career that spans four years at Rider University, 15 at Georgia Tech, 10 at Pitt and four at Kennesaw State.
 
Berenato devotes significant time to volunteer and mission work. She joined Surgicorps International on medical missions to Vietnam (2016) and Bhutan (2017), and was a Women’s Leadership Ambassador for the US Embassy that traveled to third-world countries, Suriname and Ghiana, in August of 2017. Berenato’s travels have also taken her to Kingston, Jamaica on a Pediatric AIDS Mission with Father Ho Loung of the Missionaries of the Poor, and to Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar where she visited US Military troops as part of a Good Will trip. Committed to also helping others at home, Berenato is actively involved in Hospice and the Girl Scouts of America.
 
In addition to several high school and college commencement addresses, the list of organizations that Berenato has spoken to includes such Fortune 500 Companies as the Risk Management Association, Chase Manhattan Bank, PNC, and Dollar Energy, while also presenting a TEDx Talk. Since coming to Kennesaw State, Berenato has spoken to the Kennesaw Business Association, Marietta Business Association and Acworth Business Association, while also serving as the keynote speaker for KSU Facilities Leadership and at the KSU Phenomenal Women Luncheon.
 
As head coach of the Kennesaw State women’s basketball program, she led the team with the adoption of Cate Zavitz, a young girl who was diagnosed with Autosomal Recessive Congenital Ichthyosis– a form of skin disease. The product of a basketball family, Berenato’s sister is Bernadette McGlade, a former Georgia Tech head coach and now the commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference. A native of Gloucester City, N.J., Berenato and her husband Jack have five children: Theresa Marie (Mike, Frankie and LuLu Drapkin), Andrew, Santo (Alicia and John Lawton), Clare and Christina.

• Named an ACC Women's Basketball Legend in 2014
• Led both Georgia Tech and Pitt to the programs' first-ever NCAA Tournament appearances
• Won the WNIT Championship at Georgia Tech in 1992
• Head coach of the WBCA All-Star Team at the 2003 Final Four
• State of Georgia Division I Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Tip-off Club in 1992 and 2003
• Seventh District Order of Eastern Star's Coach of the Year in 2009
• GAHPERD College Coach of the Year in 2000

• Rider University, 2002
• Camden County (NJ) Sports Hall of Fame, 2005
• Mount St. Mary's Athletic Hall of Fame, 2015
• Basketball Club of South Jersey Hall of Fame

• WBCA Carol Eckman Integrity in Coaching Award, 2019
• Susan G. Komen Terri L. Chapman Award, 2012
• Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from Seton Hill University
• Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from Mount St. Mary's
• "Distinguished Alumni" award from the Mount St. Mary's National Alumni Association
• Named by Pitt Magazine as one of its "12 Phenomenal Women"
• Named to the Board at Magee-Women's Research Institute and Foundation in Pittsburgh
• Bicentennial Medal of Distinction from Mount St. Mary's University
• Dapper Dan Sportswoman of the Year in 2005 and 2007
• Girl Scouts Woman of Distinction -- Sports and Fitness in 2005
• "Native Son" award recipient, presented by the Philadelphia Sports Writers' Association, in 2004
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee Volunteer Award

• Caroline McCombs, former Pitt assistant, now head coach at Stony Brook
• Yolett McPhee-McCuin, former Pitt assistant, now head coach at Ole Miss
• Mark Miller, former Tech assistant, now head coach at USC Aiken
• Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick (Now Brenda Kirkpatrick Brown), former Tech assistant, now head coach at UNC Asheville
• Shea Ralph, former Pitt assistant, now assistant at Connecticut
• Michelle Joseph, former GT assistant and former head coach at Georgia Tech
• David Scarborough, former Pitt assistant, now associate head coach at St. Peter's
• Alex Stewart, former Tech player, now assistant at North Greenville 
• Lisa Stockton, former Tech assistant, now head coach at Tulane
• Jeff Williams, former Pitt assistant, now associate head coach at Stony Brook
• Pat Coyle, former Pitt assistant and former head coach at St. Peter's