DURHAM – Former Duke women's basketball standout Bridgette Mitchell has been named the head coach at Northeastern as announced by Director of Athletics and Recreation Jeff Konya over the weekend. Mitchell spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Panthers.
"Bridgette's proven success at Pitt and her track record of being one of the top recruiters in the country made her a great choice to lead our women's basketball program," said Konya. "She continues to sign top classes at every stop she has been at, including a group at JMU that went 64-8 in CAA play. The more people we spoke to in the industry, the more we affirmed that Bridgette is the ideal candidate to take our program to the next level."
While at Pitt, Mitchell served as the recruiting coordinator 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.
"I am ecstatic about the opportunity that I have been given to be the head women's basketball coach at Northeastern," said Mitchell. "I'm incredibly grateful for Jeff (Konya) trusting me to lead this program. Our visions align, in that we want the young women to experience the same level of success on the court that they do in the classroom."
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 2018-19. JMU advanced to the WNIT in all three seasons, and won a program-best 29 games 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 coaching at JMU, helping guide the Saints to a WBI Final in 2015. She served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in her two seasons in Loudonville, N.Y., and began her coaching career at Wagner in 2013-14.
An accomplished player, Mitchell played 131 games for Duke, making 43 starts and leading the Blue Devils to the 2010 ACC Championship and a NCAA Elite Eight appearance. A 2010 Duke graduate, Mitchell helped guide the Blue Devils to a 109-22 record.
She spent three seasons playing professionally after her collegiate playing days overseas and won a bronze medal in the European Championships.
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