The Indiana Fever have hired Stephanie White as their new head coach for the 2025 season, the team announced Friday.
White coached the Connecticut Sun for two seasons, leading the team to a combined 55-25 record and two straight playoff appearances. She won WNBA Coach of the Year in 2023, her first year in Connecticut.
Stephanie White is homegrown.
🏠 Indiana Miss Basketball at Seeger High School in West Lebanon, IN
🚂 Brought @PurdueWBB their first-ever National Championship
🏆 Assistant Coach for our first @WNBA championshipThere is no one better to lead us into our next era of Fever… pic.twitter.com/ijK5ymdcYo
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) November 1, 2024
“As we enter this new era of Fever basketball, I am thrilled to welcome Stephanie back to the franchise,” Indiana president of basketball operations Kelly Krauskopf said in a statement. “Stephanie is a part of the fabric of this franchise, both as a former player and as a member of our championship coaching staff, so I’m quite familiar with her elite basketball IQ and leadership style. I am confident there is no one who better understands our culture or is more equipped to lead our group of players to the next level.”
“I am incredibly proud and honored to return home to Indiana and lead the Fever during such a pivotal moment in this franchise’s history, as well as during during such an important time throughout women’s athletics,” White said in the team’s statement.
White replaces Christie Sides, who was fired by the Fever on Oct. 27 after two seasons. Sides led Indiana to its first playoff appearance in eight years this past season, before getting swept by White’s Sun in the first round.
After weeks of speculation about White’s future, the Sun announced on Oct. 28 that the team and White had parted ways in what was seemingly a mutual decision. Reports had been circulating that White had been talking to other teams about her future.
After those discussions, White will now return to Indiana, where she coached for six seasons, starting as an assistant in 2011. She was eventually promoted to the team’s head coach in 2015, and spent two seasons in that position before leaving to coach Vanderbilt women’s basketball.
White is also an Indiana native, and was a standout women’s basketball player at Purdue; she spent most of her five-season WNBA career with the Fever before becoming a coach.
White told ESPN earlier this week that the choice to leave Connecticut was made for both professional and personal reasons. “It’s not an easy decision to leave Connecticut, but I think the best one for my family and my career,” White told ESPN.
In addition to White joining the team, Indiana will start next season with a new front office, with Kelly Krauskopf being hired as president in September and Amber Cox hired as chief operating officer and general manager in October.