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The Indiana Fever made a crucial decision to hire Stephanie White for a second stint as the franchise’s head coach.
In appointing White to replace Christie Sides, the Fever expected to usher in a new era of championship contention — and in White’s first season back in Indiana, the Fever reached Game 5 of the WNBA semifinals, only losing to the eventual champion Las Vegas Aces.
Appearing Friday on Sue Bird’s “Bird’s Eye View” podcast, White revealed that she placed a priority on forming a relationship with star point guard Caitlin Clark, who went on to have a season nobody expected.
“She’s obviously the centerpiece of everything that we do,” White said. “Most importantly for me was just connecting and building trust.”
After winning Rookie of the Year honors and ending the Fever’s eight-year playoff drought in 2024, Clark was limited to 13 games in 2025 and was shut down for the year in September.
Clark’s injury woes heightened the noise around her as arguably the WNBA’s most popular and well-known player. White admitted that she doesn’t know how the 23-year-old is able to block out the noise so effectively, but it helped the coach and player form a mutual trust quickly.
Not to mention, Clark and White both want to do everything possible to win at the highest level.
“I’m a firm believer that you have to coach and challenge your best players, and for me to be able to do that, I needed to earn her trust,” White said. “I’m also the same kind of psycho that she is, in terms of competitiveness.”
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