The Indiana Fever have reportedly hired former Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White to replace Christie Sides, per Alexa Philippou of ESPN. White is set to take over as the Fever's head coach after the team parted ways with Sides last week. White was linked to the Fever in recent days, and now she is set to lead Caitlin Clark and the team in 2025.
White is from Indiana and played for the Fever during her WNBA career. She played four seasons with the team before her career ended in 2004. White would later get into coaching and earned her first head coaching job with the Fever in 2015.
Indiana found success, ultimately making a deep postseason run. Following an up and down 2016 season, though, White's time as the Fever' head coach came to an end. She was later hired by the Sun.
White also found success in Connecticut, most recently leading the Sun to a deep postseason run of their own. In fact, they defeated Clark and the Fever in the first round of the 2024 postseason.
Rumors immediately began to swirl about White and the Fever after Sides and Indiana parted ways. Sure enough, the Sun ended up parting ways with White.
Stephanie White set to lead Fever
The Fever reached the postseason in 2024. They feature a high-ceiling given their core of players led by Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston. It should be noted that Kelsey Mitchell is a free agent, but the Fever could try to re-sign her.
Indiana is looking to take another step forward in 2025. Simply reaching the playoffs was an impressive feat for the 2024 team, but the 2025 team will have higher expectations. With those expectations will come pressure, but White knows how to handle it.
She is regarded as one of the better head coaches in the WNBA. It surely was not an easy decision for the Sun to part ways with her. After all, Connecticut was fresh off a quality 2024 campaign. In the end, though, the Sun made the decision to look for a new head coach.
The Fever have work to do in the offseason. If they are able to maintain a competitive roster, however, the Fever will have championship aspirations in 2025.
What Indiana's head coaching change means for Caitlin Clark
Christie Sides did a respectable job in her two years with the Fever. Indiana took a step forward overall. Sides also had to navigate the 2024 season while dealing with the pressure of coaching a star like Clark.
Stephanie White's coaching prowess is only going to help Clark, though. The former Sun head coach tends to find ways to put players in positions to succeed. She is also quite familiar with the Fever, so this situation projects to be tremendous for Clark and the entire team.
Nothing is guaranteed, though. Opponents will want to contain Clark. Fortunately for the Fever, they have other stars on the roster who are more than capable of making a big impact.
The Fever should have a realistic opportunity to make a deep postseason run in 2025 with Stephanie White leading the way.
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