Northeastern University Athletics

AWARDS/CAREER

• 2023 CAA COACH OF THE YEAR

Bridgette Mitchell was named the seventh head coach in Northeastern women's basketball history on April 17, 2021, and completed her second season in 2022-23.
 
The 2022-23 season, Mitchell’s second at the helm for Northeastern, was a historical one for the Huskies. Mitchell was tabbed CAA Coach of the Year after the Huskies were picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll, and finished with tied for first in the conference with a program-record 13 wins in CAA play, earning the program’s first-ever CAA regular season title. Highlighting the program record 13 conference wins was a 71-64 victory at Drexel. The win snapped a 17-game losing streak for the Dragons, and was the first home loss for Drexel during the season. It was also DU’s largest margin of defeat at home since 2/28/21 (61-51 vs. JMU), a streak of 32 games. Mitchell also guided the Huskies to their first-ever three seed entering the CAA Tournament. Northeastern took down six-seeded Stony Brook in the quarterfinals, and made the CAA semifinals for just the third-time in program history while on a dominant nine-game winning streak, which tied a program best. Mitchell coached Deja Bristol to the program’s first-ever CAA Sixth Player of the Year, Derin Erdogan to a spot on the First Team All-CAA and Gemima Motema garnered Third Team All-CAA honors, and All-Defensive Team Honors.

In her first season at the helm, Mitchell led the team to a sixth-place finish in CAA play after being picked to finish last to start the year. Mitchell tallied her first career win in a dominant 71-45 victory over Holy Cross in the team’s season opener. Northeastern opened up conference play at 5-2, which marked the first time in program history. Mitchell guided the Huskies to their first-ever season sweep over JMU, highlighted a 65-52 victory in Harrisonburg, which marked her first road win. Northeastern entered the CAA tournament as the six-seed, and propelled by four three-pointers from senior Katie May, gave third-seeded Towson all it can handle in a 58-49 defeat. Mitchell coached freshman Claudia Soriano to the program’s first-ever CAA Rookie of the Year, and was named to the All-Defensive Team and All-Rookie team. Mitchell also guided senior Kendall Currence to All-CAA First Team honors, and freshman Gemima Motema garnered All-Rookie accolades. Mitchell then closed the season guiding the Huskies to their second WBI postseason appearance.

Prior to Northeastern, Mitchell served as the recruiting coordinator for two seasons and worked with the wing players. She helped Pitt sign some talented recruits, including the No. 73 rated recruit in the 2019-20 class, Tracey Hueston, the highest ranked recruit since Pitt joined the ACC in 2013-14. Mitchell also signed transfer Jayla Everett, an All-ACC honorable mention selection in 2020-21.

Prior to joining the Pitt coaching staff, Mitchell spent three historic seasons at James Madison from 2016-19 as the Dukes won 75 percent of their games with an impressive 78-26 record and consecutive CAA regular-season championships in 2017-18 and ’18-19. JMU advanced to the WNIT in all three seasons, and won a program-best 29 victories including a run to the WNIT semifinals with wins over North Carolina A&T, South Florida, Virginia Tech and Georgetown in her final season in Harrisonburg, Va.

Mitchell spent two seasons at Siena before joining the JMU coaching staff. She helped guide the Saints to a WBI Final in 2015, while serving as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in her two seasons in Loudonville, N.Y. Mitchell began her coaching career at Wagner in 2013-14.

An accomplished student-athlete, Mitchell attended Duke University where she helped lead the Blue Devils to the 2010 ACC Championship and a NCAA Elite Eight appearance. She played 131 games at Duke, making 43 starts, and averaged 8.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.6 steals per contest with a .447 field goal percentage as a senior.

After her time with the Blue Devils, Mitchell played professionally in France for Villeneuve d'Ascq (2010) and for Energa Torun in Poland (2011-12) where she appeared in the European Championships, earning a bronze medal.

Mitchell earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Duke with a minor in African American studies and a certification in markets and management studies in May 2010. She is also a member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

In high school, Mitchell was recognized as a McDonald's All-American, recording five rebounds, three points and three assists in 14 minutes in the ensuing game. The New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year received the 2006 Naismith Sportsmanship Award and was voted to both the USA Today and Parade All-America Second Teams. She also added Trenton Times All-Prep Player of the Year, Trenton Times All-Area Player of the Year, Street & Smith's Second Team All-America, USA Today Junior All-America and USA Today All-Conference honors to her name.

Mitchell led Peddie to a 10th straight NJISAA Championship as a senior, dropping 30 points and 24 rebounds in the title game. She was ranked seventh by Blue Star Report, 12th by Scout and 17th by All-Star Girls Report and earned a spot at the Nike All-America Camp. On the travel circuit, she was named an AAU 16U All-American in 2005.
 

HEAD COACHING RECORD
Seasons	School	Overall	Pct.	Conf.	Pct.	Regular Season	Conference Tournament
2022-23	Northeastern	19-12	.613	13-5	.722	18-11	CAA Semifinal
2021-22	Northeastern	14-18	.438	8-10	.444	14-14	CAA Quarterfinal
Two Seasons (NU)	Career	33-30	.523	21-15	.583	32-25	1-2 CAA Tournament Record