Fever coach candidates: Signs point to Stephanie White, but who else could be in mix?

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever are in the market for a new coach.

But after letting go of Christie Sides on Sunday, a month after the Fever’s season ended, it can’t be just anyone.

With six openings for head coaches across the league, there’s plenty of competition. Bringing in another first-time head coach after firing Sides, especially after Fever president Kelly Krauskopf said they want to be “bold and assertive” with their goal of a WNBA championship, wouldn’t necessarily make sense.

More Fever news: What Christie Sides said after being fired

The Fever will need to aim big with an experienced head coach who can take Indiana deep into the playoffs. Letting go of Sides only makes sense if it’s for a well-experienced head coach that has had a lot of success in the league – and there are only a few coaches that fit that description.

Stephanie White

The obvious one, yes, as Annie Costabile of the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Sunday multiple sources expect White to take the job with the Fever. White had one more year on her contract with the Sun, but Connecticut announced Monday that it had parted ways with the coach.

White would be a perfect fit for the Fever. She has a long history with Krauskopf, as Krauskopf was the one to pick White in the expansion draft for the Fever in 2000, hire her as an assistant coach and associate head coach under Lin Dunn, then hire her for her first head coaching gig for the Fever in 2015.

White, who was an assistant when the Fever won the finals in 2012, brought Indiana back to the finals in 2015 in her first year as a head coach. She left after the 2016 season for a college job at Vanderbilt, but got back into the WNBA as the head coach of Connecticut in 2023.

White could be exactly what the Fever need; she’s an experienced head coach at all levels of the game and commands respect from the rest of the league. She knows what it’s like to win in the WNBA, both as an assistant and as a head coach.

The Sun have been contenders in each of the two years she’s been in Connecticut, finishing second in the Eastern Conference and making it to the WNBA semifinals each year. Connecticut also hangs its hat on defense, finishing first in defensive rating in 2023 and second in 2024.

The Fever struggled defensively in the past two years, finishing 11th in the league both seasons. It’s something Indiana has long struggled with, and the Fever need a defensive coach to shore up that side of the ball.

White is also from West Lebanon, Indiana, and won Miss Indiana Basketball out of Seeger High School in 1995 and a national title as a player at Purdue in 1999.

Curt Miller

Miller is the only other coach that would make sense to let go of Sides for.

He was recently fired from the Los Angeles Sparks after two rebuild seasons, similar to Sides. Miller was originally brought into L.A. to lead a rebuild of the franchise, but pressures from minority ownership groups within the Sparks franchise led to him being let go.

Multiple injuries, including an ACL tear for No. 2 pick Cameron Brink near the beginning of the season, hampered Miller’s 2024 season as the Sparks finished 8-32 – last in the league.

Outside of Los Angeles, Miller has been an effective coach. He was the head coach of Connecticut from 2016-22, leading the Sun to two WNBA Finals appearances and playoffs berths in six of the seven seasons he was at the helm. He, like White, has the experience of leading a consistently good team deep into the playoffs.

Miller also has some ties to Indiana, as he was the head coach of the Indiana women’s basketball team from 2012-14. He abruptly resigned from IU in July 2014, citing health and family reasons, before making the jump to the WNBA as an assistant for the Sparks in 2015.

Jenny Boucek

The Pacers assistant coach has appeared on multiple WNBA coaching candidacy boards, drawing on her experience as a head coach for multiple franchises in the 2000s. Boucek, who has been an assistant on Rick Carlisle’s Pacers staff since 2021, is also already familiar with Krauskopf, who was a Pacers assistant general manager from 2018-24.

Boucek has not been in the WNBA space, though, since 2017. She was the Seattle Storm’s head coach from 2015-17, compiling a 36-58 record over three seasons. Before that, she was the head coach of the now-defunct Sacramento Monarchs from 2007-09, and she was relieved in the middle of the 2009 season.

Boucek has worked closely with Carlisle for a number of years based on their shared background of being University of Virginia standouts. She was an assistant on his Mavericks staff before the Pacers, as well.

Boucek could be a potential hire for the Fever or any of the five other WNBA franchises looking for a new coach – that is, if she is interested in leaving the NBA in the first place.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Fever coach candidates: Stephanie White and who else?