WNBA’s Fever name Stephanie White as new head coach

The Indiana Fever have hired Stephanie White as their new head coach, the team announced Friday.

White, who spent the past two seasons as head coach of the Connecticut Sun, takes over a franchise led by WNBA star Caitlin Clark.

“As we enter this new era of Fever basketball, I am thrilled to welcome Stephanie back to the franchise,” president of basketball operations Kelly Krauskopf said in a statement. “Stephanie is a part of the fabric of this franchise, both as a former player and as a member of our championship coaching staff, so I’m quite familiar with her elite basketball IQ and leadership style. I am confident there is no one who better understands our culture or is more equipped to lead our group of players to the next level.”

Building around a promising young core in Clark and Aliyah Boston, the past two No. 1 draft picks, White will look to propel Indiana to the organization’s first championship since 2012.

White — an Indiana native and former star at Purdue — is plenty familiar with the Fever, having served on their coaching staff from 2011 to 2016, including as head coach for the last two years of that span. She was a member of the franchise’s inaugural roster in 2000 and played for the team for four seasons.

“I am incredibly proud and honored to return home to Indiana and lead the Fever during such a pivotal moment in this franchise’s history, as well as [during] such an important time throughout women’s athletics,” White said in a statement. “This franchise has and always will be committed to winning and I look forward to working every day to help deliver another WNBA title to the greatest basketball fans in the world.”

During an appearance on ESPN’s “NBA Today,” White expressed her excitement about leading such a talented team.

“This young, exciting roster, you think about a generational player in Caitlin Clark and back-to-back rookie of the years with Aliyah Boston. Kelsey Mitchell, I think, had the best year of her career. It’s just an exciting roster.”

White went 55-25 with consecutive semifinals appearances with the Sun, winning WNBA Coach of the Year in 2023. Before her return to the WNBA, she coached at Vanderbilt for five seasons, and she has worked for years as a basketball analyst.

She replaces Christie Sides, who led the Fever to a 20-20 record last season and their first playoff berth since 2016. The organization announced Sunday that it was moving on from Sides, who had just ended her second season at the helm. The Sun announced Monday that White was out after two seasons with the team.

White’s hiring is the latest major move for the Fever, who tabbed Krauskopf as their new president in September and Amber Cox as their new COO and GM last month.

The arrival of Clark — the 2024 Rookie of the Year and a first-team All-WNBA selection — sent the Fever into another stratosphere of relevance: The franchise led the league in attendance this year, averaging over 17,000 fans per contest, and regularly garnered 1 million-plus viewers for games.

White said she has already spoken to Clark, whom she has been keeping tabs on for some time.

“I spoke with Caitlin last night, and I think just overall excitement,” said White. “I have been watching Caitlin play since she was an eighth grader, when I was coaching in the college realm and covering her games in college, and just an exciting time for me, very excited to be working with her and this young team.

“She’s a student of the game. She loves the game of basketball. She has been so great in how she’s handled all of the attention. She just wants to play. She just wants to win, and I’m looking forward to coaching players like that and this young franchise, this young team, and taking our next steps”

Not including the league’s newest expansion team in Golden State, the WNBA is set to have seven new head coaches taking the helm for the 2025 season, which is a record, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.