34 and Counting

How many people do you know that could fail at their job 34 straight times and still be employed?

How many people can lose to their direct competition in the workplace for 2 straight years and have a job?

I know one person that can, Agnus Berenato.

The Pitt’s women’s basketball coach has not seen her team win a conference day in 745 days. It has been 2 straight regular seasons without a conference win. 34 straight Big East conference games that have gone in the loss column for the Lady Panthers.

The last time that the Lady Panthers won a Big East basketball game was February 15, 2011, to put that into perspective, that was 45 days before Clint Hurdle managed his first game for the Pirates.

Agnus and Co. have lost pretty much every way imaginable, but the most common way is in a blowout. The team has lost 3 games by just 2 points including a double overtime, 2 point loss, just weeks ago. They have also lost 23 games by double digits including 5 by 30+ points in this 34 game conference losing streak.

Pitt has been bad offensively and defensively. They have been held to under 50 points in 15 games, or 44% of the time. They have allowed 70+ points 17 times and have held their opponents under 60 just 5 times.

The Lady Panthers have losses of 33, 40, 41, 49 and 76 points in that span. YES, a 76 point loss. Pitt has only scored 76 points as a team 3 times in their last 34 conference games, but lost last season to Notre Dame by that many, 120-44.

Oh yeah, Agnus Berenato is also the 7th highest paid employee at the University of Pittsburgh, a state funded school. Berenato has a contract through the 2015-16 season and receives just under $500K annually.  Only basketball head coach Jamie Dixon, football head coach Paul Chryst, athletic director Steve Pederson and 3 university executives making more annually.

Based on my research (not all schools release the salaries of coaches) Berenato is the 5th highest paid coach in the Big East. She hasn’t won a game in the conference in the last 2 seasons, but she is getting paid better than 10 other coaches in the conference. As of the end of the 2011 season, the average salary for Big East women’s basketball coaches was $129,479; Berenato is making 3 times that amount.

The Big East record for most consecutive losses in conference play is 39 straight held by the Providence College Lady Friars from 2003 to 2006. Pitt will not have a chance to bypass that mark,only because the Lady Panthers will be leaving the Big East after 2 more games and moving to the ACC.

Sadly the Lady Panthers aren’t just losing to Big East teams. They have lost to Youngstown State, Lafayette, Duquesne and Rider in non-conference games this season. Pitt did win 9 games during the non-conference portion of their schedule this season, but just 1 of those teams, Old Dominion, has a winning record this season.

A team’s RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) has become a very popular and reliable way of rating all 345 NCAA Division 1 teams. Pitt is currently ranked 225. Only Mississippi (230) and Oregon (247) are ranked behind Pitt of BCS conference schools. Old Dominion is also the only team that Pitt has beaten that is rated ahead of them in the RPI.  Pitt’s best win after that is against Mt. St. Mary’s.

To summarize, the 5th highest paid women’s basketball head coach in the Big East and the 7th highest paid employee of the University of Pittsburgh hasn’t won a conference game in her last 34 attempts, yet she is still employed. That seems completely reasonable, right?

When is enough, enough? Could you imagine if Mike Tomlin would go two and a half seasons without beating anyone from the AFC North? Or if Dan Bylsma didn’t beat the Islanders in nearly 3 years? Better yet, what if Jamie Dixon was losing like this with the men’s team at Pitt, would anyone stand for it? Would any of these coaches keep their jobs in those circumstances? The answer is no, and Agnus Berenato shouldn’t be keeping her job either.