This year was supposed to be different for the Indiana Fever and head coach Stephanie White. White took the job this offseason, replacing Christie Sides after a first-round playoff exit last season. White was a great PR hire for the Fever, as she has a storied career as a player in the Indiana high school scene. She won a national championship at Purdue and played for the Fever for four seasons.
But this homecoming has not gone according to plan. The team has dealt with numerous injuries, none bigger than Caitlin Clark, who has only played in 13 games this season. The Fever are currently in the playoff race as the seventh seed in the league, but one analyst suggests it may be time to move on from White as the team’s coach.
Jason Whitlock Calls for Firing of Stephanie White
Jason Whitlock had some thoughts about the direction of the Fever following the knee injury to Sophie Cunningham that forced her out of today’s game against the Connecticut Sun:
Sophie Cunningham heads to the locker room after this Hartley pass and crash on her right leg. Oh my god 💔 pic.twitter.com/ZTTPYnhkTs
— AK (@Sudharsan_AK10) August 17, 2025
The culmination of Cunningham’s injury, with the ongoing missed games from Clark (who last played in a game over a month ago), prompted Whitlock to call the Fever’s season over and to fire Stephanie White for good measure.
Sophie Cunningham’s injury signals the official start of football season. Nightmare season.
Fire Stephanie White.
— Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) August 17, 2025
Whitlock called this Fever season a “nightmare,” which feels accurate given how it has all unfolded. To open the season, the Fever were regarded as one of the contenders. Most of this was based on expected growth from Clark, last year’s Rookie of the Year. The addition of Cunningham and the continued excellent play of Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell helped to fuel these expectations further.
As we enter the final stretch of the WNBA season, the Fever find themselves fighting for a playoff spot with the Seattle Storm and the resurgent Los Angeles Sparks team on their heels.
Despite the injury complications, the Fever are still on pace to improve their record from last season, which should be considered impressive considering that their star player has missed over half of the team’s games.
Whitlock is a big-time supporter of Caitlin Clark. Throughout this WNBA season, Whitlock has criticized White for not tailoring the offense to Clark’s skill sets and even prioritizing other point guards over the Fever’s franchise player.
Bcuz Stephanie White has spent the season trying to make a point to Caitlin Clark about ball movement. This makes White overcommit to every off-the-street point guard the Fever sign. Sims can’t defend. White afraid to play Bibby and Sims at the same time. So she sat Bibby.… https://t.co/CqzwHY1rRt
— Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) August 16, 2025
More than anything, Whitlock’s axe to grind with White seems directly tied to the way that Clark is involved (or not involved, as it were) in the Fever’s offense. Based on injuries and record alone, it can be argued that White deserves a second year.
But if Whitlock’s aspersion about the coach’s dealings with Clark is how the player feels, then we may be looking at a coaching search in Indiana sooner than many would have imagined.
