More than half of the WNBA is changing coaches this offseason, as seven of the league’s 13 teams parted ways with their head coach from the 2024 season — and the Golden State Valkyries are entering the league with a new coach as an expansion franchise. Among the teams that fired their coach after the season was the Indiana Fever, as they let Christie Sides go after guiding Indiana to a second-half push that saw them nab a playoff berth before a first round loss.
The Fever figured to be a highly coveted job as it provides an opportunity to coach the last two Rookie of the Year winners in Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston. On Monday, the team officially introduced Stephanie White as their head coach, after White parted ways with the Connecticut Sun to return home to Indiana to take the Fever job for the second time in her career. This time, White takes over a roster that has a ton of talent, and in her intro presser she stated her belief that Clark and Boston can be the best guard-big tandem the WNBA has ever seen.
Those two were at White’s introductory presser, and spoke with ESPN’s Michael Voepel about their excitement to play for White, with Clark explaining that the detailed approach the Sun always had in facing the Fever makes her believe White can help them improve some of their weaknesses quickly.
“We know how much of a legend she is in Indiana,” Clark said Monday. “I think that’s really cool. Playing against her, I would say I felt like her teams always had the best scouts against us. I think that just speaks to her knowledge of the game and her way to analyze, and she clearly was on to something. Hopefully, in turn, now that she knows how to stop us, that should be a good way to know how to [help us] beat certain things as well.”
Boston added, “There’s nothing better than playing for a coach that you can already tell she’s going to pour into us. She knows the talent that we have and I’m super-excited to get out on the court. You can feel the intensity already.”
White will have the next six months to self-scout the Fever and identify the areas they can improve for 2025, as the expectations will only get bigger for Indiana. At the very least, White believes her young star duo is only scratching the surface and if Clark and Boston can level up in 2025 together, Indiana will have a chance to be a real threat to the WNBA’s top-4.
