Agostinella steps down after 54 years
Hundreds of cheering friends, family and teammates await Mt. Lebanon runners as they cross the finish line of a grueling long-distance race. But if they look far enough this fall, they might just see a familiar face amongst the crowd, marked by a neverchanging dark blue baseball cap, with “Mt. Lebanon” sprinkled across it in gold lettering.
That recognizable outfit belongs to coach Mike Agostinella. Well, just Mike Agostinella now. The Mt. Lebanon legend retired this summer after more than 50 years of coaching track and field and cross country. But to the hundreds, if not thousands, of athletes that he impacted in that time, he’ll always be “Coach A.”
Unlike most track and field coaches at high school and collegiate levels, Agostinella had no experience as a runner prior to his coaching career. The Slippery Rock alumnus threw shot put and discus in college, but he said those field events have closely comparable qualities to track.
“Throwers, especially one’s like me that didn’t have very much talent, have to work really hard at it, and that’s parallel with distance running. It was kind of an easy transition in that way.”
He also took that determination into coaching, signing up for many track and distance running publications to learn as much about the craft as possible.
While studying at Slippery Rock, Agostinella, 76, got a student teaching gig at Mt. Lebanon, forging a connection with the school in 1966-67 he’d fall in love with. He spent a year teaching at Aliquippa after graduation, before receiving a full-time position teaching driver’s education and later on, health. He had no idea at that time that he’d retire with this school over a halfcentury later.
Agostinella joined the Blue Devils coaching staff as an assistant in 1968, working solely with the team’s throwers. He became the head track and field coach about three years later, the position he would remain in for the rest of his time at Mt. Lebanon.
But a gap exists in his Mt. Lebanon coaching career, when Agostinella took a full-time job as an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh in 1974. It only took one year for Pitt to promote him to head track and field coach in 1975.
Agostinella worked with some exceptionally talented individuals at Pitt, the most memorable for him being future Olympic gold-medalist Roger Kingdom. The two remained in touch long after he left Pitt and achieved national stardom, the type of connection he maintains with so many of his former athletes.
Mike Wallace, who threw at Pitt during Agostinella’s tenure, appreciated the rare opportunity to have a former thrower at the helm of a collegiate track and field program. He remembers how his former coach looked after his athletes above anything else.
“He really cared about his athletes, both academically and athletically,” Wallace said. “He never over practiced or overran anyone in a meet. He was worried about them being healthy more than anything.”
But coaching at the collegiate level wasn’t always all that it was cracked up to be. For one, Agostinella said that the Pitt track and field program — prior to joining the ACC or Big East — had very little resources at its disposal as in independent program, making it all the more challenging to lead a successful program.
Agostinella also felt that he could provide more of an impression on athletes’ lives at the high school level than college. Plus, he missed teaching in the classroom. After about 10 years at Pitt, in 1985, he returned to where he started for the rest of his career.
“It was an easy decision for me to go back to Mt. Lebanon,” he recalled.
But Agostinella didn’t always realize the impact he had on his students in the moment. That assurance, he said, usually came when he spoke with the parents of the athletes. The more involved and enthusiastic they became in the program, the more confidence he gained in his own role.
As his rosters changed over the years, Agostinella’s philosophy remained the same: “The best coaches are the best teachers.” That mentality led to an organized and simultaneous effort from all of his staff to not only develop the kids as athletes, but as people.
David Loughran, who ran for Mt. Lebanon from 1992-1996 and went on to coach high school athletics as well, said Agostinella’s reputation extended far beyond Mt. Lebanon. When introducing himself to other members of the track community as one of “Agostinella’s boys,” he felt they immediately understood who he was and what he stood for.
“While there was a collective identity and collective set of standards that everyone held themselves to, he really was amazing at allowing individual personalities to be individuals,” Loughran said. “I can’t think of a day I didn’t laugh when working with him.”
The parents of those Mt. Lebanon teams often hosted get-togethers with coaches, athletes and family, where Agostinella said many of his favorite memories came from. It’s also where, according to his pupils, the coach’s wit and banter shined through.
“He has a very great and dry sense of humor, it was one of the things I remember the most,” former Blue Devils runner Scott Sehon said. “Even more so than the coaching, but just the interactions he had with those athletes.”
The environment Agostinella created helped the team thrive, and in 1998 the cross country program finally secured a coveted PIAA championship.
“Everybody aspires to the top level,” he said. “For college coaching, it’s a national championship and for high school coaching it’s a state championship … it felt good.”
The legendary coach began to experience some health issues last year, fighting a case of vertigo. He overcame it through an indepth exercise program at UPMC, but he now has a light sensitivity. It was at that point he decided to hang up the whistle after 54 years in the sport.
He may never get completely used to the adjustment of coach to fan, but he has made it his mission to attend many Mt. Lebanon meets this year, and hopefully even see some of his former runners competing at the college level.
But in the meantime, he’s enjoying his retirement like anyone else — spending time with his wife, Karen, of over 50 years, meeting up with friends for breakfast, going on drives. And of course, listening to music. Agostinella has compiled quite the CD collection over the years, primarily from 1950s artists.
“I’m a big oldies fan,” he said.