The Huntington News BRIDGETTE MITCHELL ACCEPTS FORDHAM JOB, STEPS DOWN AS NORTHEASTERN HEAD COACH

Former Northeastern women’s basketball head coach and 2022-23 CAA Coach of the Year Bridgette

Mitchell has accepted the head coaching position at Fordham University, as announced by Fordham April 7.

After leading the Huskies to a 19-12 record and going 13-5 in conference in just her second year as head coach, Mitchell now departs the program with an overall record of 33-30 in her tenure.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time [at Northeastern] because of the people,” she said in a statement to The News. “My players are beautiful people and I cannot wait to see how they change the world.”

Mitchell earned CAA Coach of the Year honors this season and holds the second-highest winning percentage among Northeastern women’s basketball coaches at 52.5%, but has always made sure to credit her fellow coaches and the program’s culture for her own success.

“I always applaud our support staff,” Mitchell said in an interview with The News. “Our number one rule as a team and program is to put the program above yourself.”

After an up-and-down start to the season and a lull in conference play, the Huskies turned on the jets late in the year, going 9-1 in the last 10 games of the season and securing a share of the CAA regular season title.

Mitchell’s coaching style has been described as tough, but she has always made an effort to put the team and her players first, graduate student guard JaMiya Braxton said.

“I love her. That’s all I can say,” Braxton said. “She just really cared about her players. And she’s just had a great impact in my life.”

Mitchell, a former Duke University player, was most recently an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh and served on staffs at Wagner Col-

By Eamonn Ryan | News Staff

lege and James Madison University. She was hired by Northeastern April 17, 2021, making her tenure as a Husky just 10 days shy of two

Northeastern Assistant Athletic Director and women’s basketball administrator Regina Sullivan was a main part of hiring Mitchell to fill the void left by Kelly Cole, who departed the university after seven seasons.

“[Mitchell] has an amazing presence and ability beyond that,”

Sullivan said. “She’s an extremely impressive individual, I think, on and off the basketball court. And you get that — you get her passion from the moment you meet her.”

After Mitchell’s first season — in which the Huskies went 14-18 and 8-10 in conference play — key players such as Claudia Soriano and Kendall Currence transferred away from the program, but Mitchell’s ability to add talent to the squad helped the

Huskies to such an impressive season in her second year.

Junior guard Derin Erdogan, a transfer from the University of Arizona, earned All-CAA First Team honors after leading the Huskies on the court. She averaged 15 points a game this season and led the Huskies in assists with four assists per game.

Junior forward Deja Bristol, a Virginia transfer, received the CAA Sixth Player of the Year award, scoring eight points per game and grabbing five rebounds per game.

Overall, Mitchell’s second season was a product of her first season’s challenges.

“She showed that she took what she learned and we took what we learned and she made it happen,” Sullivan said.

Mitchell will move over to the Rams, who went 19-13 in 2022-23 and won a game in the National Invitational Tournament before ending their season with a loss to Columbia University. The Rams are in the Atlantic-10 conference and went 10-8 in conference play. The Huskies will begin a search for their eighth head coach following Mitchell’s departure.