After last season’s playoff sweep one of the Fever’s priorities was to bring in a head coach with more experience than Christie Sides and the ability to improve the team’s struggling defense. Stephanie White, who had led the Connecticut Sun to two consecutive semifinal appearances, won Coach of the Year in 2023, and had the Sun playing the best defense in the league last year, was the perfect fit on paper.
White has brought much more than just experience and a defensive mindset to the Fever, though. She has also connected well with the players and played a major role in Kelsey Mitchell’s career season, according to the veteran.
“I’ve had five coaches in eight years,” Mitchell said when asked about White’s impact on the team. “I’ve never had a coach that poured into me, respectfully, like Steph has…For the first time in my career, I really feel like I have someone that values what I bring to the table as a player and a person.”
If that is how one of the team’s stars feels about her new coach, there is little doubt left that the front office made the right choice in the offseason.
Mitchell has been the key to the Fever’s success
Mitchell has thrived in her first season with White as her head coach. She averaged 20.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists during the regular season, making a strong case to see her name on an All-WNBA team in October.
She has also been the driving force behind the Fever’s playoff success. Mitchell scored 19 points in Indiana’s Game 2 win. In Game 3, she scored a game-high 24 points and finished the game with a team-high plus/minus of six.
With Caitlin Clark sidelined for most of the season, the Fever needed someone else to step up. Mitchell has been that player, and Stephanie White put her in a position to do it.
Stephanie White hasn’t had an easy season
Going into the season, White was expected to lead a team featuring a young star duo, one of the most dynamic guards in the league, and championship veterans to title contention. White never really got a chance to do that or work with the roster she expected to have for a full season.
DeWanna Bonner played only nine games before leaving the team. Clark was only available for 13 games, and then Sophie Cunningham and Sydney Colson also went down. Players on hardship contracts kept coming into the system and assuming massive roles.
Leading a team with an ever-changing roster to a semifinal appearance is quite the accomplishment.