In November 2024, Stephanie White returned home to Indiana for her second stint as head coach of the Indiana Fever. Since then fans — or, more likely, people cosplaying as Fever and WNBA fans online — have unfairly criticized White relentlessly.
White was blamed for the Fever’s up-and-down start to last season and, specifically, for she coached All-Star guard Caitlin Clark. She and the Fever shut everyone up by reaching the WNBA semifinals with an injury-ravaged roster.
Earlier this season, White and Clark had a viral sideline spat, which sparked more criticism. A few weeks ago, the Fever really entered the fishbowl when Sophie Cunningham came out in support of barring transgender athletes from women’s sports.
So, when Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington committed a Flagrant 2 foul on Cunningham last weekend, it was blown out of proportion. White received an onslaught of scrutiny for her rational assessment of the play. The Indiana home crowd booed White before the Fever’s win over New York on Tuesday. Her players won’t stand for it.
Fever All-Stars back Stephanie White
First, Clark used her postgame press conference to vehemently support White.
“There was no way we were losing this game for her,” Clark said, in part. “It’s tough. That’s my head coach. I hated that our fans booed her before the game. That made me a little sick, to be honest. You can disagree, and this and that, and I get it. It’s professional sports. People are gonna boo.
“But at the end of the day, that’s our head coach, and we’re gonna ride for her, and we’re always gonna have her back. That’s never gonna tear our locker room apart. I just love her.”
On Thursday, All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell and All-Star center-forward Aliyah Boston also took a firm stand on White’s behalf.
#Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell on Stephanie White being booed Tuesday:
“If anybody know me, I don’t play that. So, it really hurt my feelings to see her kind of have emotions in terms of not feeling valued, not feeling wanted … Our culture is not gonna let her fall to the wayside.” pic.twitter.com/5B3P6Jrfmt
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) August 13, 2026
“To hear that, it was really annoying, honestly, and disrespectful.”#Fever center Aliyah Boston on the boos that head coach Stephanie White received on Tuesday: pic.twitter.com/gmUAbTun49
— WISH-TV News (@WISHNews8) August 13, 2026
“It kind of threw me for a loop, too,” Mitchell said, per James Boyd of The Athletic. “I told it to her face. I said, ‘Coach, this is for you. In terms of just a sense of confidence, a sense of awareness that you’re not alone. If anybody know me, it’s like, I don’t play that.”
“So, it really hurt my feelings to see her kind of have emotions in terms of not feeling valued, not feeling wanted in a place where she has to coach,” Mitchell continued. “At the end of the day, this is her job, and so she has to show up, too. I think that people don’t really recognize that, and I think that it’s our job to remind her. It’s our culture, and I think we have to remind her that our culture is not gonna let her fall to the wayside.”
Boston echoed Mitchell’s sentiment, saying, “When you are on your home floor, and your team is getting announced, the coach is getting announced, I feel like there’s no reason for any of that. We come out here, and we do everything that we can to win. I think Steph does a great job with us. We love her, and we appreciate her. To hear [the boos], it was really annoying, honestly, and disrespectful. For us, we kept the main thing the main thing.”
What has Stephanie White said?
White gave an impassioned speech during her press conference before the Fever beat the Liberty on Tuesday.
Watch it in full:
Stephanie White made the following statement before tonight’s game: pic.twitter.com/VkYThRldsu
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) August 11, 2026
Despite the boos, White held firm in her beliefs.
“I’ve made a statement before about the noise that surrounds out league,” White said in her postgame presser. “We’re being hijacked for all the wrong reasons.”
“Winners focus on winning, and that’s what they’re doing,” White added of her players. “They’re winners in that locker room. They pull for each other. […] It’s everybody else that wants to divide us, our team and our league. As somebody who’s been around for a long, long time in this league, I’m tired of it.”
Fever president Kelly Krauskopf assured that White is not going anywhere.
“Coach White has done a tremendous job leading the Fever and, for the second-consecutive season, has us in great position for a playoff push,” Krauskopf said Tuesday, per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. “She has kept our team focused and united, all while under the brightest spotlight our team and our league have ever experienced. She has the full support of leadership.”
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