A member of NCAA Division III Final Four teams as both a player and a coach, Nicole Mitchell joined the Northwestern State coaching staff in July of 2018.
A four-year letter winner and two-year team captain at Christopher Newport, Mitchell helped lead the Captains to the Final Four, Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen rounds of the Division III national championship tournament.
Mitchell tallied 1,262 points in her four years at Christopher Newport, leaving the school as its No. 13 career scorer. In her four seasons as a player, Mitchell helped the Captains compile a 105-19 overall record.
After two seasons coaching at Hood College, where she earned her master’s degree in human sciences, Mitchell returned to Christopher Newport and continued to help the Captains reach new heights.
During her first season as an assistant (2016-17), Christopher Newport rattled off 19 straight wins to start the season, marking its second-best start in program history.
That start helped propel the Captains to their first Capital Athletic Conference regular-season championship and a berth in the Final Four. In the 2017-18 season, Mitchell helped coach the Captains to a Sweet Sixteen berth during a season in which they climbed as high as No. 2 in the national polls.
During her two seasons at Christopher Newport, Mitchell was responsible for developing the Captains’ post players and helped Sam Porter earn first-team all-conference and all-state honors while also being named a preseason All-American. Devon Byrd was a second-team all-conference performer on Mitchell’s watch. The Captains went a combined 54-8 in her two years on staff.
As Christopher Newport’s recruiting coordinator, Mitchell landed the most out-of-state commitments in CNU history in 2018.
Prior to returning to CNU, Mitchell coached two seasons at Hood College, helping develop Rachel Wiley into an All-Commonwealth Conference selection. At Hood, Mitchell coordinated fundraising, community service and alumni relations as well as recruiting.
A George Mason (Virginia) High School graduate, Mitchell is a member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and has coached with the AAU’s Fairfax Stars and worked various camps, including at the University of Maryland with national championship coach Brenda Frese.
