After two seasons of growth, Indiana Fever part ways with head coach Christie Sides

The Louisiana native was hired on a four-year agreement in November of 2022 after a lengthy interview process. “She’s just the right fit at the right time,” now-President of Basketball Operations Kelly Krauskopf told The Next of the Sides hire two years ago. At the time, Krauskopf worked as the assistant general manager for the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, but she advised then-GM Lin Dunn during the hiring process.

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Sides was officially introduced as head coach on the same day the Indiana Fever won the No. 1 pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft lottery, their first in franchise history. With that pick, they added center Aliyah Boston, and were the winners of the 2024 WNBA Draft lottery 13 months later. That brought star guard Caitlin Clark into the mix, and those two top selections were a key part of the Sides era.

The first-time head coach helped pull the Fever from five wins to 13 in her first season. This year, they won 20 games and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

“She believes in relationships. She knows how important it is that she connects with every one of these players. She builds relationships with them and she builds trust with them,” Dunn told The Next of Sides in 2023. “That’s a big issue in sports period — I don’t care what level — is can you trust the people that are coaching you?”

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Players felt similarly. “She suits it. She’s communicating well. She’s giving us what we need,” Fever wing Kristy Wallace said of Sides. Wallace also played for the Atlanta Dream in 2022, when Sides was an assistant coach there.

Sides commented on the firing just under 2 hours after it was made official:

Now, the Fever are moving on. It’s a chaotic time of coaching movement in the WNBA, with six of the 13 franchises having a head coaching opening. Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, and Los Angeles are all competing to hire the best available sideline leaders.

“We are incredibly thankful to Coach Sides for embracing the challenge of leading us through an integral transition period over the last two seasons, while also positioning us well for future growth. While decisions like these are never easy, it is also imperative that we remain bold and assertive in the pursuit of our goals, which includes maximizing our talent and bringing another WNBA championship back to Indiana,” Krauskopf said in a statement. “Coach Sides was an incredible representative of the Fever and our community, and we wish her nothing but success in the future.”

The new Indiana Fever front office — led by Krauskopf and new GM Amber Cox — wasn’t the one that hired Sides. Krauskopf helped Dunn in the process, but a new front office often wants a new voice that they pick. When the Fever announced they had hired Cox, they revealed her first day would be October 28. Her biggest task is now hiring a new head coach — whoever she hires will be Indiana’s fourth head coach since the start of the 2022 season, a challenge for a young and growing team looking to establish a base. Only Kelsey Mitchell, NaLyssa Smith, and Lexie Hull remain as players from that time.

Krauskopf has done this before. In her first lengthy stint with the Fever, she made a few coaching changes, including bringing in Dunn (who led the team to their only championship) and Stephanie White (who led the Fever to the WNBA Finals in 2015). White is currently the head coach of the Connecticut Sun, but her name has been attached to the Fever in offseason reporting from Annie Costabile of the Chicago Sun-Times.

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“For a young team to make that kind of progress, it’s hard to not be impressed,” Krauskopf said of Sides earlier this month. “I was impressed with the progress that they made. Christie is a resilient leader. She’s a culture builder … She’s a good person, she’s a great leader.”

Tanisha Wright, Latricia Trammell, Curt Miller, Teresa Weatherspoon and Eric Thibault have also been fired by their teams this offseason. There are many talented leaders with experience available as the Fever embark on the search for the franchise’s 10th head coach.

Cox starts tomorrow. She and Krauskopf will continue to re-shape the Indiana Fever in their image as the team pushes into an era where winning is the expectation.