Indiana Fever bringing back Stephanie White as head coach
The Fever have their coach. Stephanie White is returning to the franchise for a third stint — first as a player, and now her second time as head coach.
Stephanie White is coming home.
The Indiana Fever reached agreement with White to return as head coach, league source told Fieldhouse Files. The Fever announced the news at 12:16 p.m. ET Friday.
A press conference is set for Monday.
The Indiana product most recently was the head coach of the Connecticut Sun and voted 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year. It was the Sun who ended the Fever’s season last month in a first-round series sweep.
The Sun then announced on Monday that they parted ways with White after two seasons, two consecutive runs to the WNBA semifinals. That made her available for the Fever, and others teams, to begin their pursuit.
“We want to thank Stephanie for her time in Connecticut and her commitment to our organization over the past two seasons,” said Jen Rizzotti, president of the Sun. “We wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
That’s led to an unprecedented seven of 12 WNBA franchises from last season conducting head-coaching searches: Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Washington, Indiana, Connecticut.
For the Fever, Kelly Krauskopf returned as president last month (after six years as Pacers assistant GM) and now she’s hiring White to be her head coach for the second time.
For White, there is a familiarity and comfort level with Krauskopf, along with the franchise and Indianapolis.
I asked White about Krauskopf’s return last month: “Kelly certainly has been the architect of everything that's gone on in the Indiana Fever franchise from day one. So for her to come back, I think it says how serious the organization is to taking the next step.
“And I think it shows Kelly's love for the W, right? Love and commitment to the W and to the Indiana Fever franchise. So certainly there's no one better to usher in the Fever into this next era than Kelly.”
Most importantly to White, however, is the proximity to family in Nashville. It was not easy for her to be away from them, in Uncasville, Conn., for the season and with only a few visits.
Her kids are almost teenagers and this allows for her to be a 4.5-hour drive or a short flight away. In Connecticut, it’s an hour drive to Hartford and flights are less frequent.
White was Indiana’s Miss Basketball in 1995 and then helped lead Purdue to a NCAA championship in 1999. She played for the Fever from 2000-04, then later was an assistant coach on Lin Dunn's staff (2011-14) before being promoted to head coach (2015-16) for two seasons.
“I love this franchise,” White said in 2016. “… The Indiana Fever is in my blood, it's in my DNA. It always has been. The state of Indiana always has been in my DNA.”
In her first season, they reached the WNBA Finals and lost to the Minnesota Lynx in five games. I was there and covered it.
She then accepted the women's basketball job at Vanderbilt in May of 2016.
White is returning to an organization that has changed a lot since she was last employed by Pacers Sports & Entertainment. New locker room, renovated practice court, an incredible Pacers practice facility across the street and most of all: Caitlin Clark.
The rookie phenom has taken the Fever and WNBA alike to new heights. The Fever easily set an attendance record and averaged over 17,000 fans at home games inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, including sellouts in 16 of 20 games.
White saw the Caitlin Clark Effect up close the past few seasons while serving as a TV analyst during the WNBA offseason.
“I've been fortunate to be able to call a number of her games throughout the course of the career, but there's been nothing like this season,” White said on the Fieldhouse Files Podcast in April. “In fact, I called their game at Maryland. I'll never forget it because I was in the same hotel as they were.
“I'm coming down the escalator three hours before the game. The hotel is just packed. Hundreds of people. It's roped off like it would be for an NBA team or an NFL team. There's security guards everywhere.
“These people were in the lobby of the hotel just to get a glimpse of Caitlin Clark and this Iowa Hawkeye team. In fact, yesterday I was talking to somebody who said that she's the Taylor Swift of women's basketball. That's how she's being referred to, from a non-basketball person. It's the craziness of this team and Caitlin Clark's ability right now to captivate a national audience.”
All but two of the Fever’s 40 regular-season games aired nationally and the franchise had a local television deal for the first time.
That’s an accurate comparison and fitting because Swift closes out the U.S. portion of her Eras Tour this upcoming weekend at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. And Clark will be there.
White has always told it straight; she doesn’t sugar-coat it. That’s good for players and fans.
“I don't think it's going to be as steep of a learning curve,” she said of Clark before she was drafted. “I think there's going to be plenty of welcome to the W moments. But the thing that I've admired the most about Caitlin Clark is her ability to adjust, adapt, continue to get better. She’s got a competitive fire that is absolutely incredible and a work ethic to want to be the best. And that's what separates the great players from the elite players.”
Clark, the Rookie of the Year, played in all 40 games and averaged 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and a league-leading 8.4 assists per game.
Under Christie Sides the past two seasons, the Fever increased their win total from five to 13 wins, then up to 20. They reached the postseason for the first time since 2016, when coached by White, and then lost to White’s Sun team.
What stood out about that group: Experience, length, and elite defensive versatility. The Sun led the league in defense in 2024 after ranking second in her first year.
Meanwhile, the Fever ranked 11th of 12 teams this past season.
White was a Fever player during their inaugural season and she played a key role on the coaching staff for their only championship in 2012. Fittingly, White’s first game as Sun head coach was back in Indianapolis.
And Clark’s first game as WNBA player was in Connecticut against White’s team. Familiar with each other from the college game, the two greeted each other near mid-court as the Sun completed shootaround and the Fever took the court.
And soon White will be coming home to help Clark and the Fever “remain bold and assertive in the pursuit of our goals, which includes maximizing our talent and bringing another WNBA championship back to Indiana,” as outlined by Krauskopf.
White wore No. 22 when she played. Now she’s agreed to coach her former team again, which is led by a 22-year-old guard who is No. 22 — and was a Gatorade Player of the Year, Big Ten Athlete of the Year, and Honda Sports Award winner as well.
