Basketball: Berenato visits the troops, coaches one game

itt women’s basketball coach Agnus Berenato is the kind of person who approaches members of… itt women’s basketball coach Agnus Berenato is the kind of person who approaches members of the armed forces in airports to express her appreciation for what they’re doing.

So when the U.S. Army requested a female coach for its College Basketball Tour for the first time, Berenato immediately knew she wanted to participate.

“I think we all have responsibilities, and honestly, I’ve never been able to give to our country before,” Berenato said. “I didn’t enlist, and I wasn’t in the military, so I thought this was a great opportunity to really give back.”

Orlando Early of Louisiana Monroe, Murray State’s Bill Kennedy, Mike Smith of Jacksonville State and Virginia Military Institute’s Duggar Baucom accompanied Berenato on the Entertainment from the Home Front Tour. The coaches traveled around Southwest Asia and the Middle East to boost the morale of troops overseas.

Berenato said they first went to Qatar, where they stayed on an Army airbase and talked with different members of the armed forces, then traveled to a military base in Afghanistan.

“We did all kinds of a meet-and-greets,” Berenato said. “The five of us, we were just out with the troops all the time.”

The coaches went back to Qatar and stayed on an Air Force base. While there, Berenato returned to the sidelines to coach the Navy in a basketball game against a Smith-coached Air Force team.

She said both teams were competitive.

Berenato said she met three people in particular who left a lasting impression on her.

The first was Army engineer Jen Bellemy, who Berenato met previously when they sat next to each other at a dinner.

Bellemy played basketball at Army and was on the 2006 NCAA Tournament team coached by Maggie Dixon, men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon’s sister, who died in 2006.

“We talked about when [Bellemy] gets out, her going into her coaching. That was one [person] who was really, really cool, ” Berenato said.

The second person was Michael Mazza, whom Berenato met in Afghanistan. Mazza graduated from Pitt with a doctorate in English in April 2009.

“He came up to me right at the end of this one function we were doing and said, ‘I hear Pitt’s in the house!’ and I said, ‘Yeah, Pitt’s in the house!’” Berenato said.

“[Mazza] got his PhD, and it took him 13 years,” she said. “Here he is with this big machine gun on, and he’s like, ‘Oh, this is like the Batman in me. This is my exciting life. The English is like my boring life.’”

Berenato said Mazza leads the police in Afghanistan, working to bring together a police force by recruiting people to gather vehicles and uniforms. He was an adjunct professor at Pitt for seven years.

“He was the coolest man, so I took the microphone and I was like, ‘Everyone, give me your attention!’ and I gave a shout to Michael Mazza and how he finished his PhD,” Berenato said. “Everyone started cheering and clapping, so that was really cool.”

The final person she discussed was Steve Bell, a Pittsburgh fan from Franklin, Pa., who told Berenato of his connection to the LA Fitness shooting last month. Bell was best friends with shooting victim and former Pitt-Johnstown basketball player Jody Billingsley.

“That just tore me apart. Here he is, fighting over there, carrying a gun, and he’s struggling because his dearest friend from America was killed,” Berenato said.

Berenato also met people from Pittsburgh who humbled her with their appreciation.

Many of them watched the Pitt women play on television against Gonzaga and Oklahoma in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

“They were all just thanking me for coming over there to the point where I was embarrassed by their gratitude because I was over there to thank them,” Berenato said. “I’m just a coach. Who wouldn’t go if they had the opportunity to do that? You just can’t imagine how much it really means to them.”