Stephanie White's plan to lead Caitlin Clark to a WNBA title

By selecting Caitlin Clark with the first pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, the Indiana Fever kickstarted their rebuild in a major way.

The Fever made colossal progress last season, reaching the WNBA playoffs for the first time since 2016. However, Caitlin Clark and the Fever aren't finished pursuing greatness.

Stephanie White joined the Indiana Fever as head coach at the start of November 2024 in a complete overhaul of the Fever front office and staff as they pursue a WNBA title with Clark.

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In addition to White joining the staff, the Fever has hired Amber Cox as the new Chief Operations Officer and brought Kelly Krauskopf, the team's original president and general manager, back as the new president of basketball and business operations.

The Fever is solely focused on avoiding becoming the laughingstock of the WNBA like they were between 2017 and 2022, and here's why Stephanie White will lead them to the top end of the WNBA standings.

Before 2017, Stephanie White was on the Fever coaching staff between 2011 and 2016, becoming the head coach for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

As part of the coaching staff previously, White already has a taste of winning the WNBA title with the Indiana Fever, beating the Minnesota Lynx 3-1 to secure their only championship, with White as an assistant coach under Lin Dunn.

After her success as an assistant coach, White became the Fever head coach for the 2015 season. She led the team to a 20-14 record and reached the WNBA Finals, this time losing to the Minnesota Lynx in a hard-fought 3-2 series loss.

In her final season in 2016 with the Fever, the team had a record of 17 wins and 17 losses and was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. However, flash forward to 2024, and this Fever team with Caitlin Clark looks ready to compete again.

White was an elite player in college, winning the 1999 National Championship, and played her WNBA career as a point guard for the Fever. Considering That She played for the Fever, and they wore the same jersey, it will help her connect with Clark.

Clark and White have already developed a special connection due to White's understanding of Clark and because White used to follow and watch many of Clark's games in college.

According to CBS Sports, Clark spoke positively about White's impact on her: "She has obviously called a lot of my games all throughout college, and I think she has a really great basketball mind."

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"She's always been supportive of my game. It's been fun to talk to her at shootarounds throughout my college career, and she's always been really supportive."

Without even holding a coaching session or coaching a game, White already has Clark's trust. She has analysed her games for long enough that she knows exactly where to improve to reach that next level.

Speaking to ESPN, White said: "I have been watching Caitlin play since she was an eighth grader when I was coaching in the college realm and covering her games in college. It was just an exciting time for me. I am very excited to be working with her and this young team."

The new head coach clearly knows how she wants the team to perform so that Clark can reach her potential. She states that they are a "high-IQ team, " adding, "You got to give them the freedom, the confidence to believe in their abilities."

White said on the Coaching U podcast in December 2024 that she wants to have honest discussions with Clark about the sport. "Just having general basketball conversations about what she's watching, what she likes, what are some of her thoughts from not just what the Indiana Fever have done, but from the game of basketball in general."

White continued, "My first conversation with her about X's and O's the other day, I was just like 'How do you want to improve? What are some of the things you want to improve on?' And then we'll talk about how we want to do that. I talked to her about how we can use her to help her be more efficient, help her be more effective, to help our team be better in general."

White's Connecticut Sun were the third-best scoring team in the WNBA last season, while Indiana was ranked third in pace. Combined, Clark will flourish in a fast-paced, high-scoring offense, giving her more spacing to penetrate the defense and better looks from three.

To reach the championship level, the coach has to have the pedigree. In four seasons as a head coach of a WNBA team, White has won at least 20 games three times and has an overall record of 92-56, reaching multiple semi-finals and one Finals appearance.

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