INDIANAPOLIS — Ask any of the Indiana Fever players about their head coach Stephanie White, something different stands out to each of them.
“She’s a player's coach,” guard Ty Harris said. Rookie guard Raven Johnson added, “She’s funny!”
“She’s knows what it takes to win in this league,” guard Sophie Cunningham said, while fellow veteran Lexie Hull added, “She’s the engine of this train.”
White did the unthinkable last year, leading a Fever team decimated with injuries to one win away from the WNBA Finals. Even in the pits of adversity, she didn’t shy away from the challenge.
“I mean, it’s really hard coaching a new group of girls basically every other week, so I think for her, we were just really lucky that she came in every single day with a plan,” Hull said. “She just spoke life into us. We all had confidence because of what she believed in us.”
White talked about what she learned the most from the tumultuous 2025 season.
“We know that we have to feel the things that we’re feeling in the moment, but then we have to turn the page and problem solve,” White said. “We can’t let circumstances dictate how we show up every day. We have to be creative in the ways that we’re able to not survive but thrive… And I think all of those things coming together in life and in basketball really help this team understand how important it is to be connected.”
Between her time with the Connecticut Sun and last year’s miraculous Fever run, White’s teams have made it to the WNBA semifinals the last three years. While all that success is great, she’s now more determined than ever to get this year’s squad to the finals.
“(I’m) Very hungry. Very hungry,” White said. “But, I’ve been in this league long enough to know that it doesn’t happen now. We’ve got to take it one day at a time… I’m competitive. I’m firery. I think I’m flexible – more so than I was as a young head coach… I want to compete. I want to win. I want to put our team in position to win.”
White has made a major impression on her players.
“Just to be the great woman and role model she was and is for us on a daily basis,” Cunningham said. “She wants greatness for us, but also she just cares for us as human beings. So when you have a coach that really pours into your personal life and truly loves you for you, I just think that speaks volumes, especially at this level…
“We know what Steph brings to the table, and we just want to make her proud and respect her because that’s what she gives us every day.”
And maybe give her another championship.
