Fever bring back White for 2nd stint
The Indiana Fever hired former Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White as their new head coach Friday.
"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 (been) 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."
White played for the Fever from 2000-04 and served on the coaching staff as an assistant from 2011-14, helping Indiana win its first championship in 2012. She was elevated to head coach for the 2015-16 seasons. White led the Fever to the WNBA Finals in 2015, losing to the Minnesota Lynx.
After a five-year tenure at Vanderbilt, White returned to the WNBA to coach the Sun in 2023. She won Coach of the Year in her first season and took Connecticut to back-to-back semifinals appearances before the franchise fired her earlier this week.
The Fever moved on from Christie Sides as head coach earlier in October. She went 33-47 in two seasons, including a 20-20 record in 2024. Indiana returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2016, losing in the first round to White's Sun.
White, who is from Indiana and won a NCAA championship at Purdue, is tasked with lifting the Fever into championship contention with phenom Caitlin Clark and former No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston. Clark broke out in her first WNBA season, winning Rookie of the Year and being named to the All-WNBA first team.
Indiana is the first of seven WNBA franchises to fill its head coaching vacancy this offseason.