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Here at Fordham, Mitchell is cultivating that same culture of winning. In her first season, the Atlantic 10 Conference preseason poll predicted her team would finish 13th; instead, they tied for eighth, securing the most wins by any first-time women’s basketball head coach at Fordham in over 30 years.

This season, after a hot start that saw the team in fourth place, they’ve had a few tough losses—including an overtime loss at St. Louis University—but are hoping to finish strong heading into the A-10 tournament. With two weeks to go before the conference tourney, Mitchell and her players remain focused on making every game, and every practice, count.

“You can’t go out and win a game if you haven’t practiced hard,” Mitchell said. “I am a firm believer from experience that if you’re focusing on winning the day, and being better than you were yesterday, the wins are gonna come.”

Stacking Wins and Rewarding Victories

At the start of the season, Mitchell gave her coaching staff a copy of The 2% Way by Myron Rolle, reinforcing her philosophy that committing to small, daily improvements leads to big wins.

Forward Rose Nelson, a junior communications major from Australia and the team’s co-captain, says the team has embraced this mindset. “We harp on it every day—stacking drills, stacking days, stacking wins.”

Mitchell, in turn, celebrates her team’s hard work, treating them to ice cream, for instance, after road wins. In Pittsburgh, that meant a trip to the Milkshake Factory to celebrate beating Duquesne, 64-62, and to Lickety Split after routing Loyola Chicago, 68-53.

“We don’t even let her talk after a game,” said Nelson. “We just start screaming, ‘Ice cream! Ice cream!’”

‘Representation Matters’

In Mitchell’s first year of coaching in 2023, the women’s basketball team retained just four players. Some had graduated; some went on to play elsewhere via the transfer portal, which makes it easier for college players to move around and for coaches to recruit rising stars.

Co-captain Taylor Donaldson, a grad student at the Gabelli School, was one of Mitchell’s first recruits. The New Mexico State transfer, a leading scorer with an average of 16 points per game, said she was drawn to both Fordham’s academics and the opportunity to play for Mitchell.

“Playing for a Black woman head coach is rare in college basketball,” she said. Though Black student-athletes make up 41% of Division I teams, only 23% of those teams have Black female head coaches according to NCAA data.

“Representation matters,” said Mitchell. “For me to be leading and mentoring—I’m honored.”

Cultivating Team Spirit in Greece

To build chemistry among the new and returning players this year, Mitchell took the team overseas to compete in Greece before the season.

“Getting to bond so early really helped us,” Mitchell said. “We played basketball, but we also had fun, and that strengthened our relationships.”

She reinforces those bonds with group activities throughout the season, be it a community park cleanup or a team-building exercise, like a scavenger hunt on the court using words alone as clues. 

“Communication is crucial for defense on the court,” said Mitchell. 

It’s also key to her coaching style. Mitchell has made forging personal relationships with her players a priority, in part to work through any personal or academic stress that may impact their playing. She assigns assistant coaches to meet weekly with small “families” of players and holds one-on-one monthly check-ins herself. 

These bonds help strengthen her players’ commitment to the team. As Nelson put it: “When your coach cares about you, you want to play for them.”

Teaching Skills for Life

Mitchell sees all of these efforts as vital to her team’s success, as players and as people.

“If you’re not touching the endline in practice, that means you’re taking shortcuts elsewhere. And shortcuts don’t get you anywhere—you’re cheating yourself. We’re learning that through basketball, but you are also learning that skill for life.”

Cheer on the Women’s Basketball Team

There are four games left before the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament, with a special Black History Month game on Feb. 19 featuring a marketplace of Black-owned businesses. Find the schedule and get tickets for their upcoming games at Rose Hill Gym here. Employees get a 50% discount by calling the box office, buying tickets in person, or emailing [email protected] in advance. All games are also broadcast on ESPN+.

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Fordham has and will continue lending full cooperation to the NCAA during their investigation, including following the NCAA’s bylaws to maintain confidentiality. Therefore, we’re unable to share any more details on the matter at this time.

For the Albany native, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a master’s in education administration and policy studies from the University at Albany, returning to his home state is a “dream come true.” He views college athletics as “one of the great human development engines in the world,” and he’s eager to help Fordham’s student-athletes thrive in the classroom, in competition, and beyond.

I know you grew up as an athlete—you played college basketball at Onondaga Community College prior to transferring to Syracuse. How did you become interested the administrative side of college athletics?
Most kids don’t grow up wanting to be a college athletic director. But everyone says that I was probably an athletic director as a kid, because I was always the first one in Little League to be at the field to help the coach rake the field, put the bases out, you name it. Playing pickup basketball, I would go get markers and put our names on the backs of T-shirts. My brother tells the story about me taking his brand-new alarm clock that he got for Christmas and putting it on the table to keep score in the middle of the street when we were playing football.

And then higher education—my mom preached going to college to all five of us. All five of her kids went to college. So, when you’re able to mix the importance of higher education and sports, then you have the career I have, which has been just a tremendous career path.

What appealed to you about the job at Fordham?
I’ve had my eye on Fordham for quite some time. It’s a great institution—an elite academic institution in the heart of New York City, in the Atlantic 10 in most sports. You can’t beat it.

As the interview process started, I talked to [current Akron and former Fordham head football coach] Joe Moorhead. He said, “It’s a special place. We hate to lose you, I love working with you, but it’s my alma mater and I think, for you, it’s home. You’d do really well there.” So that resonated with me.

What are your biggest goals coming into the job?
Well, first of all, I’m going to shift into what I call “start-stop-continue.” I want to hear from the coaches and the staff on what are the things we should start doing, stop doing, and continue doing at Fordham. And from that point, we’ll start to build out a true strategic plan for athletics and a vision for the future.

On that list, the top priority will be fundraising. NIL [name, image, and likeness opportunities for student-athletes] will also be a consideration. And then when you look at the teams, the Atlantic 10 is a basketball conference, so elevating men’s and women’s basketball [while giving] all our other sports [what they need to] achieve their goals.

And then getting football back on track is going to be a priority, as well, because I know that means a lot to the Fordham community. And when they’re winning, I know that people come out. Joe Moorhead reminded me of that—they had to bring in stands on the other side for him when he started getting it rolling.

Organizational efficiency will be another thing to tackle, and then just bridging athletics into the greater Fordham community across campus so that our colleagues are in tune with what we’re doing and what we’re trying to accomplish.

Tell me a little bit more about your philosophy and approach to athletics in higher ed and its relationship to academics.
First and foremost: graduation. I look at sports particularly as a way to keep students engaged in their journey through higher education and [to help them build] the life skills that they will learn by being on the team—being on time, having a set schedule, knowing where you’re supposed to be at the right time, paying attention and being detail-oriented because you need to know the playbook. And when you go into the workforce, these are all life lessons that are going to be critical to our student-athletes.

The Rose Hill Gym turns 100 this year. What are your thoughts about the gym as a home environment?
I think the Rose Hill Gym is amazing. I’ve been in arenas that are brand new, and I’d like to equate it to—do you want to buy a track home or do you want to live in a home that has character and history and tradition? When you go into the Rose Hill Gym, you feel that history and tradition. And I think that [its relatively small] size is actually an advantage. When you have that loud, daunting atmosphere that you have at Rose Hill, you can’t replicate that.

For Fordham fans getting to know you, what are some of your passions and interests outside of sports?
Well, I love to cook and I have a great audience in my [10- and 12-year-old] daughters and my wife. And I’m a big boater, so I’ve got to figure out where to go out and boat and fish.

How are your wife and daughters feeling about the move?
They’re just excited about being in New York. My younger daughter said about a month ago that it’s a shame that she can’t be around her grandparents, because one of her friend’s grandparents came over to babysit her. But now, guess what? My daughter gets to spend the weekend with my mom, my wife’s family, so it’s just working out really well.

You spent time in New York City while working at Columbia as director of marketing, tickets, and promotions in 1999 and 2000. What’s your favorite place in New York City?
My favorite place in New York City has always been Harlem. The rich tradition of Harlem has always been something I’ve been intrigued by. I could walk along those blocks and think about some of the most amazing things that happened in Harlem, going to the Cotton Club, etc.

And I’m looking forward to exploring the Bronx. I’ve spent very little time in the Bronx—just going to a Yankees game, that’s pretty much it. And now I’ll get see the botanical garden, the Bronx Zoo. I never knew anything about Arthur Avenue, and it’s just amazing down there.

You can’t do New York in a minute. You know that. It’s a vast place with so many new things—so many new restaurants, new ideas, always showing up. I haven’t stopped smiling. To come home and live in New York City is like a dream come true.

Interview conducted, edited, and condensed by Adam Kaufman, FCLC ’08.

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“It’s been a great season so far,” head coach Brian Bacharach said. “[W]e’ve won several games against top 10 and top 20 opponents that traditionally we’ve had struggles with. We’re in the strongest position we’ve ever been as a program.”

Indeed, after winning their fourth straight Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference title, the Rams rose to No. 1 in the nation (in a three-way tie with UCLA and USC)—higher than any Fordham team, in any sport. Now, they’re gearing up the NCAA Championship, which starts on December 6.

Watch to hear what the players had to say about the team’s historic run.

This story was updated on November 29.

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A new student fan section, the Shirtless Herd, fired up the fans and brought “Rose thrill” to the Rose Hill Gym, in the words of Keith Urgo, who has overseen the men’s team’s resurgence since becoming its head coach in spring 2022.

Because of the New Era Fund and Fordham-wide support, “the culture and outlook around the program have shifted dramatically in the right direction,” said Fordham’s interim athletic director, Charlie Elwood. As the final buzzer sounds for the Cura Personalis campaign, Fordham basketball walks off the court with big wins on the board. Here are five: 

No. 1: Historic Record.

Men’s basketball achieved its highest three-year win total since joining the Atlantic 10 in 1995. The highlight? Going 25-8 in the 2022-2023 season, tying the second-best season total in the team’s history and coming in just win one shy of the famed 26-3 season of 1970-1971.

No. 2: Surging in the Atlantic 10.

The men’s team tied for second in the final A-10 standings in 2022-2023 and reached the semifinals of the A-10 Tournament for just the second time.  

No. 3: New Women’s Coach Scores Big.

In the 2023-2024 season, her first season as head coach of the women’s team, Bridgette Mitchell led the Rams to the most wins by a first-year Fordham women’s basketball coach since 1993-1994.

No. 4: Ram Spirit Revived.

In a sign of growing enthusiasm for Fordham basketball, ticket sales for the men’s team games grew 113% from the 2022-2023 season to the 2023-2024 season.

No. 5: A Bigger Public Profile.

Fordham has been covered on CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, and PIX11, and in the New York Post and Newsday, because of the men’s team’s performance. The Feb. 23, 2024, home men’s basketball game against Duquesne marked the Rams’ first appearance on ESPN2 since 2008.

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