INDIANAPOLIS — New Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White held her (re)introductory news conference Monday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
White, who is succeeding Christie Sides as the Fever’s coach, will return to Indiana after a two-year stint as Connecticut Sun coach.
White has a lot of familiarity with Indiana and the Fever: team president Kelly Krauskopf drafted White in Indiana’s 2000 expansion draft, White was an assistant coach under Lin Dunn when Indiana won its championship in 2012, and Krauskopf gave White her first head coaching gig with the Fever in 2015.
More: Stephanie White knew Caitlin Clark would develop. Now, she’ll lead Clark’s next steps.
White was the head coach of the Fever from 2015-16 before she moved on to become Vanderbilt head coach.
Now, she’s back in Indianapolis.
“This is just a really, really special place, special franchise,” White said. “It’s been a part of my DNA from day one, and will always continue to be a part of my DNA. … Every time I came home, (Fever broadcaster Pat Boylan) would ask me, every time I come back, ‘What’s it feel like when you come back in this building?’ And every time I said, ‘It feels like home, it feels like home.’ And that’s because it is. I am so incredibly honored, so humbled, so thankful, grateful and excited to lead this franchise and take it to another level.”
Here are some other highlights from White’s press conference:
How family influenced Stephanie White’s decision to return to Indiana
White spent the past two years in Uncasville, Conn. — a location where there were no direct flights from her home base of Nashville, as well as a one-hour drive after landing.
With her kids going to school in Nashville, White barely saw them from when they returned to school until the WNBA season was over. Coaching in Indiana allows White to make the four-hour drive to see her kids more often, and puts her closer to her hometown of West Lebanon, Ind.
“I’m at the point in my career where, you know, making a decision for one reason or another isn’t really good enough anymore,” White said. “It’s got to be about professional opportunity. It’s got to be about personal opportunities. And for me, you know, being near my family — and some of them are here today, including my nephew, who I’ve only seen a few times, So it would be great to see see his little, cute face more often — and for my children to be able to be around my family even more, it’s important.
“And you know, for those of us who have children, you know, you don’t get these years back, right? You don’t get this time back. And my family sacrificed a lot of time with my children, and for them to now be able to have them around more often, for me to be closer to home, it was really important. There’s always a time in your life where you feel like everything needs to be grounded, everything needs to be centered, so that you can be where your feet are.”
Stephanie White on Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston
White will enter into a team that boasts the past two No. 1 picks and Rookies of the Year in Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark. As a center and a point guard, Boston and Clark naturally complement each other.
“They’re both incredibly competitive players,” White said. “And, you know, there’s a fire and a mentality that you can’t teach when it comes to competitive spirit and when it comes to being a great teammate, and when it comes to lifting those up around you. Watching both of them grow into not just the players that they are, but grow into the spotlight that they have, how they lead, how they make make their teammates better, how they lift one another up, how they handle, you know, all of the things that have come their way and all of those things that come your way are certainly earned when you’re in that position.”
“You put it together, and you’ve got the point guard at the center, are you kidding me? Like you got the bookends that you want to build around with them,” White added. “These two are the best. And I think that there’s so many things that they do well right now, and you saw the difference from the beginning of the season to the end of the season, and how much better they got with one another, how much they could anticipate what one another was going to do, how they facilitated with one another. But there’s so much room for growth.”
Stephanie White on WNBA’s growing popularity
White was a part of the WNBA nearly since its inception, getting drafted to the league in 1999. She remembers the days when the league was first starting and had lackluster facilities and support.
Now, arenas are selling out across the country, players are getting better accommodations both in travel and at home, and the league is exploding in a way it has never before.
“This is such an incredible moment on a global scale for our game, for our players, for us who have been around for a long time,” White said. “And I’m embracing this. I will always embrace it. I don’t think any of us will ever take it for granted, because this is what we envisioned, and now we get an opportunity to live it.
“You know, (Fever senior advisor Lin Dunn) was from the time when you were driving station wagon and doing the laundry, to now, I mean, talk about trailblazers. And for me and for Kelly and for Amber (Cox), who have been able to sit at those tables and have those conversations with Dunn and Mickie DeMoss … and Pat Summitt, and just hear where it started, and now be able to live where it is and for them to be able to carry it to where it’s going it’s just such an incredible opportunity. It’s such an incredible moment.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: What Stephanie White said about Indiana Fever job, Caitlin Clark, family
