Husky among the Panthers

Last Saturday, the Pitt women’s basketball team hosted Connecticut for their seventh Big East… Last Saturday, the Pitt women’s basketball team hosted Connecticut for their seventh Big East conference matchup of the year.

After both teams took their respective benches at opposite ends of the court, something still connected the two squads. Turns out, there were Huskies with both benches.

One of Pitt’s assistant coaches, Shea Ralph, played under the coach she was coaching against Saturday, UConn’s Geno Auriemma. In her time under Auriemma, she had an immediate impact on the program, not to mention the sport.

“I think in Shea’s case, she’s more aggressive in her thinking and I think she coaches more on toughness,” Auriemma said. “I would like to think that she’s having a little bit of an impact on what’s going on [at Pitt].”

What is happening with coach Agnus Berenato’s team is no doubt something special. The Panthers have been off to their best start in the program’s history, finishing their first 14 games with an 11-3 record, a best since they started 12-2 in the 1980-81 season.

“I think if her heart is in [coaching], she’s certainly going to attack it with the same passion that she did the game,” Auriemma said.

Auriemma isn’t the only one who has seen Ralph’s passion and intensity for the game of basketball.

“She’s one of the most intense individuals I’ve ever met,” Berenato said. “She’s a difference-maker for our program.”

But before Ralph arrived with Berenato at Pitt three years ago, she had been making a rather prominent name for herself as a player.

From the moment she began playing for the Huskies, she began gathering national attention. As a freshman in 1997, Ralph earned the honor of Big East Rookie of the Year, Sporting News National Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year by Dick Vitale.

Three years and one national championship later, Ralph had solidified herself as one of the best athletes in women’s collegiate sports.

In addition to captaining Connecticut’s 2000 national championship team, Ralph was honored as Most Valuable Player of the Final Four, and named to both Kodak’s and the Associated Press’ All-America teams. Ralph was also a finalist for the Naismith Player of the Year award.

The following summer, the WNBA’s Utah Starzz drafted Ralph, but she was derailed because of a knee injury.

It was only more injury trouble while she was with the National Women’s Basketball League’s Springfield Spirit that lead her to coaching, first with the Spirit before joining Pitt in 2003.

“If you talked to any of my coaches and any of my teammates, they always said I would be a coach,” Ralph said. “My plan in life was to play, and what ended up happening was my body gave out and it ended up being a blessing in disguise.

“I love coaching, and I know that if I hadn’t gotten injured I wouldn’t have gone this route.”

Ralph isn’t the only one satisfied with her decision to coach. The players she coaches here at Pitt are also glad she wound up where she did.

“I know she wishes she could play, but she’s not one to sulk about it,” freshman guard Maddy Brown said. “She wanted to make a difference in the game and she’s giving back to the game of basketball by making a really big impact here.”

Being a former collegiate standout, Ralph offers invaluable experience to her players.

“She always reminds us what it was like at UConn and gives us little bits of advice from her playing days,” Brown said. “It’s really useful information because we all respect her and we all knew her as a player.”

But as much as Ralph has played the teacher role to her players, she’s been a student as well.

“I have learned a tremendous amount from Coach Berenato,” Ralph said. “She is so positive. She’s very passionate in what she does and she’s been a great mentor to me. She expects me to be great even though I’m still young.”

So, mix together an NCAA national championship, a Final Four MVP, a WNBA draft pick and a coaching role in building a powerful young program in the Big East, and you have a pretty strong resume for future coaching positions.

“She’ll eventually land a head-coaching job someplace, and there’s no reason why she can’t be real good at it,” Auriemma said.

However, there are many, including the Pitt players, who don’t want Ralph going anywhere just yet.

“She’d make a great head coach,” Brown said. “She knows her stuff inside and out. She knows the game of basketball better than anybody I know.

“But I hope she stays here.”

“I do want to be a head coach, but I think right now I’m in a great situation,” Ralph said. “I really love Pittsburgh, so I’m just trying to enjoy every day.”

No worries, Maddy.