Stephanie White, head coach of the Connecticut Sun, has been named the 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year in her first season with the franchise.
White received 36 of 60 possible votes, with Dallas Wings coach Latricia Trammell coming in second with 11 votes and Sandy Brondello of the New York Liberty earning third place with six votes.
The Sun was expected to take a step back after trading 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones to the New York Liberty this offseason, but White kept the Sun moving in the right direction en route to a 27-13 regular season record and a No. 3 seed in the 2023 WNBA playoffs despite losing Brionna Jones to an Achilles injury early in the season.
This isn't the first time that White has had success in her first year with a new team. White was the head coach for two seasons with the Indiana Fever, compiling a 37-31 record. But In White's first season with Indiana in 2015, the Fever won the Eastern Conference Championship before falling to the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA Finals in five games.
Stephanie White has spent 16 years in the WNBA as a player, assistant, and head coach. White explained what has made the Sun successful in her first season, via ESPN.
“Just retooling what the dynamics between players and coaches and within our own roster, what that looks like,” White said. “We're honest. We're transparent. We expect a lot, they give a lot, and they expect a lot from each other, and they expect a lot from us. And I think that allows us to, I guess for lack of a better term, overachieve when people think that we might not be or would have been in the position that we're in.”
The Sun compiled the third-best regular season record this season with Stephanie White at the helm, finishing behind only the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty.
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