Girls Basketball: Patience key for Plainfield East coach Missy Mitidiero

Updated: January 2, 2012 6:02PM

Missy Mitidiero has a number of virtues. Patience is not one of them.

Last summer, Mitidiero, a standout point guard at Marian Catholic in the early 2000s who led the Spartans to a second-place finish in the 2002 Class AA tournament, was named the head basketball coach at Plainfield East.

Plainfield East has only been around for two years. The Bengals were 4-20 in 2009 and 8-16 last year. Those are not numbers to which Mitidiero has been accustomed. But she realizes that Plainfield East is not going to become a household word overnight.

“The most difficult thing for me is patience,” said Mitidiero, who also teaches physical education and health at the District 202 school. “We want the kids to get things so fast. We have to realize that we have to be patient. We want to push them, but we have to be realistic as well.”

Mitidiero has been successful as a player at every level – high school, college and the professional ranks. She was a Chicago Sun-Times First Team All-Area selection, a tournament MVP at Rich South, and one of the top point guards in the country coming out of high school.

After one year at Illinois under Theresa Grentz, she transferred to DePaul where she enjoyed a solid career playing for Doug Bruno. She played professionally in Iceland and Holland. She continues to play in recreation leagues in the city and south suburbs.

One thing has not changed since she first picked up a basketball. She still hates to lose. Only losing is more difficult now.

“Losing is tougher as a coach,” Mitidiero said. “You want the kids to do so well. You don’t want them to hurt or to make a mistake. But sometimes you can’t do anything about it. You can try to put them in situations to be successful, but you can’t go out there and make it happen for them.”

Plainfield East has not experienced too much pain during the early part of the 2011-2012 season. Thanks to the guidance of Mitidiero and assistant coach Meghan Hutchens, and a young but steadily improving roster, the Lady Bengals (10-6) are just two victories from matching their win total of the previous two seasons combined.

“When I came in, I didn’t know how it was going to be,” Mitidiero said. “But as they started learning things at practice and realize that maybe this is right, to go out there and teach them and then see those things work in games, it’s almost like a light bulb turning on.”

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