How the Indiana Fever landed Stephanie White to be their head coach

Yet the Fever still made a move, letting go of Sides and bringing in Stephanie White to guide the team into the non-rookie years of the Caitlin Clark era. White and Krauskopf have history together dating back to White’s playing days, and that relationship played a part in this move coming to pass.

A perceived hurdle early in the offseason for this move was that White wasn’t available. She was under contract with the Connecticut Sun as the franchise’s head coach, and they were just one game away from reaching the WNBA Finals in October. White had a solid gig already.

Yet her own desires created a butterfly effect. White, an Illinois native who spent many of her life’s formative years in Indiana and has family in Tennessee, wanted to be closer to those roots. She hoped that a jump to Indiana could be possible and equated herself to Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz because, in her eyes, there’s no place like home. That hope made a move to Indiana possible.

“Yeah, probably not,” White told The Next when asked if she would have departed Connecticut for a non-Fever coaching job. She loved working for Jennifer Rizzotti. “When I envisioned how my career would unfold in Connecticut, I thought it was a lot more likely that I just would be done coaching than to go to somewhere else… I didn’t really think that that was something that was on the radar. But this is such a unique opportunity for me to come home to this franchise that is literally a part of my DNA from day one.”

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Fittingly, that interest was mutual. Krauskopf knows White is a great coach from their overlapping days with the Fever in the 2010s, and Krauskopf would only have moved on from Sides for a more experienced head coach. “The opportunity to get a more experienced head coach based on the trajectory of where we’re headed was basically why we made the change,” Krauskopf told The Next. They were moving in that direction, and the process was expedited once White was known to be an option.

Because she was under contract, White’s availability wasn’t clear early in the offseason. But Krauskopf checked in with White’s agent and kept tabs on the coach. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen in Connecticut, but there’s a chance that she may not stay at Connecticut,” the Fever’s new President of Basketball Operations was told. “So I was like, ‘Well, keep me posted. We’re looking at what we’re gonna do.’ So that’s how it came [together],” Krauskopf explained.

It took multiple well-timed events for the Indiana Fever to be able to hire Stephanie White, but here they are — together again. White guided the Fever before and propelled the 2015 version of the team to the WNBA Finals.

That’s the hope once again, and part of what makes this hire full of intrigue. While the Fever are certainly still building and trying to add more pieces to their core, they are about to enter a season with expectations for the first time in nearly a decade. After a 20-20 campaign netted them postseason experience, many will foresee meaningful steps forward for Indiana.

White is no stranger to expectations, and some coaches are better equipped to guide teams that are more focused on winning more than developing. When White was named head coach of the Fever for the first time back in 2015, they were two years removed from a WNBA Championship. With Tamika Catchings on the roster, they were a title contender.

They reached the championship round and had two postseason berths in White’s two seasons. When White took over for Curt Miller in Connecticut, she led the Sun to consecutive semifinal appearances and a 55-25 record. She hasn’t reached the summit as a WNBA head coach just yet, but she has in other roles and is experienced with talented rosters looking for a jolt.

“I’m so excited to welcome Stephanie White back home as the Indiana Fever head coach,” new Fever General Manager Amber Cox shared, noting that the organization is thrilled from top-to-bottom about the direction of the franchise.

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The Indiana Fever could end up having one of the most unique play styles in the league next year. Having Caitlin Clark on the roster makes that possible — few can pass and shoot like she can — and Aliyah Boston is the perfect foil. Those two are still growing, yet they have both been an All-Star during every season of their young careers. They are mega talents.

That permits the Fever to play fast if they want or slow things down and operate inside-out. Their potential versatility is their superpower, and White recalled the team being a challenging group to plan against during the 2024 WNBA postseason.

Now, it’s her team to guide, and she has a vision for how her new squad will play. “I think offensively, we can be more creative. I think we can utilize more versatility, utilize certain players in different ways. I’m a forward-thinking, outside-the-box kind of coach… They are a high IQ team, so also giving them the freedom to make plays like we want to make plays, don’t run plays,” White said of her vision for the Fever on the floor. She wants to give her players freedom to be creative and special but still have enough structure to create an identity. “I think we’ve got to get better on the defensive end of the floor. We don’t have to make leaps and bounds and go from wherever we are to the top, but we’ve got to continue to get better. We’ve got to make sure on the days that shots aren’t falling, that we’re able to position ourselves to win ball games.” White wants to play an up-tempo and have a team that shares the ball.

Part of what Krauskopf likes about White is her ability to be a leader in high-pressure situations. When they connected originally — and Krauskopf recalled acquiring White during her first-ever player transaction during her first stint running the Fever — the now team President could tell that White had a future in coaching.

That led to a long working relationship, and one that is resuming once again with Amber Cox assuming the General Manager role. Krauskopf called it the next phase of Indiana Fever basketball and what the franchise is building. She believed that White’s experience was the right trait, among many, to lead the franchise forward.

“Coaching is who’s leading the locker room, who’s leading the in-game management. Are we as good as we can be? We had talked about experience, needing more experience on the bench, whether that was in the form of assistants or head coaches. There was a lot of discussion around that, and where can we improve,” Krauskopf said of moving toward a new phase. “Those are all things that you look at. As an executive, when you’re looking at areas of change, sometimes it happens. Teams shift off on coaches and you find something that fits what you’re trying to do.”

White recognizes that her experience acquired since she left Indiana the first time makes her a strong fit for the job now. She’s a better communicator and is better equipped to empower the talent on her rosters. Just like young players develop, coaches do too. White certainly has in between her Fever stints.

Now, her hope is to help a young team develop while still winning as many games as possible. White stressed that victories come in many different ways — what it takes to win in May and June versus the playoffs and other key moments is different. Consistency will matter every night for the Indiana Fever, and White wants to make her young team more reliable.

“For me, I’m probably a little bit more patient, probably a better communicator than I was at the time,” White said of her growth since being in Indiana the first time. She relies on her assistants more now, too. “Learning and growing from that standpoint, seeing things from multiple perspectives… With players on the floor, it’s empowering them to be their best. It’s allowing them to do what they do best, putting them in positions to be successful, and then giving them the freedom to make the plays.”

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White has never coached someone like Clark before — few people have. In her eyes, though, one of the closest comparisons from her coaching past is Tamika Catchings. Not from a play style perspective — the two are dramatically different in that way. Instead, it’s more of their makeup as people and competitors.

They both have high energy and wear emotions on their sleeve. They both hate to lose more than they love to win. Both players approach the game in a similar way. But from a skill standpoint, White has never been tasked with leading someone like Clark. That is totally new.

The new Indiana Fever head coach called her star point guard a blend of Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird, two players White has very frequently coached against. Indiana’s new sideline leader is excited about helping Clark reach the next level in her game and thinks the little things will help Clark make a big step.

A number of those small things — work habits, communication, consistency, and more — will also be vital for the whole team as they look to take a step forward. White can implement them, and with her experience, Krauskopf knew she was the right person for the job. She made it happen.

“I feel fortunate, really, that we’re sitting here and that we have this chance to, at this pivotal time, to really go back to work and finish some unfinished business that we had from 2015,” Krauskopf said of hiring White, referring to the 2015 WNBA Finals. “We left that one hanging.” That’s the expectation that the Indiana Fever now have, and the franchise believes Stephanie White can get them there.