It’s time to show again the clock in Indiana.

After rehiring Kelly Krauskopf — who was the final supervisor of the Indiana Fever from 2000 to 2017 — in September to be the president of basketball operations, the Fever are getting the entire band again along with Stephanie White as the brand new (outdated) head coach. The staff introduced the transfer Friday.

“Stephanie is part of the material of this franchise, each as a former participant and as a member of our championship teaching workers, so I’m fairly acquainted with her elite basketball IQ and management model,” Krauskopf stated in a press release. “I’m assured there isn’t a one who higher understands our tradition or is extra outfitted to steer our group of gamers to the following degree.”

White was an assistant coach in Indiana from 2011 to 2014 and took over the top job in 2015-16 earlier than transferring to the NCAA to teach at Vanderbilt. She returned to the WNBA in 2023 with the Connecticut Sun and gained Coach of the Yr. Nonetheless, she had reportedly been searching for new alternatives this offseason earlier than parting ways with Connecticut this week, because the Solar face a free-agency overhaul and are perpetually hamstrung by the monetary limitations of being owned by the Mohegan Tribe.

Now, she’s landed arguably probably the most thrilling job within the league in Indiana.

She’s going to coach the final two Rookie of the Yr winners, Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, each of whom had been additionally All-Star starters of their debut seasons. After Boston posted one of the most prolific rookie seasons in current reminiscence, Clark upped the ante by ending fourth in MVP voting and incomes first-team All-WNBA honors.

“I’m extremely proud and honored to return dwelling to Indiana and lead the Fever throughout such a pivotal second on this franchise’s historical past, in addition to throughout such an necessary time all through girls’s athletics,” White stated in a press release. “This franchise has and at all times can be dedicated to profitable and I look ahead to working each day to assist ship one other WNBA title to the best basketball followers on the earth.”

Even with the youngest roster within the WNBA, the Fever showcased their excessive potential in 2024. After a 2-9 begin that includes a brutal opening journey schedule, they’d the most effective offense within the WNBA (107.7 factors per 100 possessions) and completed with a .500 file to return to the playoffs for the primary time since 2016.

Merely making the postseason is not the objective, nevertheless, which is why White is replacing Christie Sides.

Sides was employed in a developmental position, one wherein she has excelled. Boston, Clark, Kelsey Mitchell and Lexie Hull all took necessary steps ahead underneath Sides, who was in her first head-coaching job.

Now, the intention is to compete for championships, and White has extra expertise within the deeper levels of the postseason. She was an assistant on the 2012 Fever who gained the WNBA championship and led the them again to the finals because the coach in 2015. White additionally led Connecticut to the playoff semifinals in every of the final two seasons, and beat Indiana to get there this yr.

White might have had a really comfy teaching tenure with the Solar, who saved their earlier coach, Curt Miller, for seven seasons. As a substitute, she’s moving into the hearth of a high-pressure scenario with the most well-liked girls’s basketball participant on the earth. There can be no grace afforded to her on this position, particularly not after Indiana pushed out Sides to carry her in. She can be anticipated to win, and she or he should to stay round.

The Fever know what success appears like. Even in a brand new WNBA, they imagine the outdated guard can get the job carried out.

Required studying

(Picture: Chris Marion / NBAE by way of Getty Pictures)





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