On August 11, 2026, the Indiana Fever picked up their 21st win of the season by beating the New York Liberty 106-92. The news all over should have been about the win.
Instead, the headlines were about something Stephanie White said before the game even started. And once the final buzzer went off, the former Indiana Hoosiers interim head coach made sure the conversation kept going.
Dan Dakich’s Straightforward Comment Regarding Stephanie White
Before tip-off, White stood in front of reporters and got emotional. She had spent days fielding criticism after the Fever’s win over Chicago, where Sophie Cunningham took a hard hit from DiJonai Carrington, and White didn’t come out swinging in her defense right away.
So ahead of the Liberty game, White said her players’ success, health, and safety are always her top priority, even if people online want to twist that into something it isn’t.
“This is more for an online community that’s trying to create narratives that simply don’t exist. Trying to create a fabrication or distortion of who I am, of what I’m about. Our players’ success, our players’ health and wellness, and our players’ safety are always a top priority for me. One of the things I pride myself on is my relationships with players. For those who have anything to say about the play in the last game, I didn’t see the play in real time.”
“I went straight to a press conference. I thought the play got called right. Thankfully, Sophie’s okay. Was it egregious? Absolutely. When you have a chance to watch that over and over and over on replay, you can see that. I didn’t have that in real time. I take personally any suggestions that I don’t 100 percent always have my players’ backs. I ride with them 10 toes down all the time. All the time. They know that,” White said before Tuesday’s game.
During a FOX News segment after the game, Dan Dakich brought up White’s comments and pushed back hard. He stated that he doesn’t buy that White has consistently stood behind her players.
“Stephanie White saying she has her players’ backs is like me saying I have hair. Like, I can say it. I can say it. I can say it. But I don’t have it, Brian. No, she hasn’t had anybody’s back.”
“Caitlin Clark gets knocked around, a throat punch by Alyssa Thomas, and she compliments Alyssa Thomas. She got booed last night as she came and was introduced in their game, and rightfully so. She can yell. She can scream. She talked about leading with love, and then she tells everybody to go to hell,” Dakich said during the FOX segment.
Stephanie White does not have her players’ backs!@dandakich reacts to Stephanie White walking back her original comments on the DiJonai Carrington–Sophie Cunningham hit. pic.twitter.com/V2UcF7kScO
— Don’t @ Me (@DontAtMeDD) August 12, 2026
This isn’t new for Dakich. Just a few days before this latest exchange, he was calling her out over her past comments on transgender athletes in the WNBA.
But none of this criticism is slowing the Fever down. Under White, Indiana has won seven of their last nine games, and they’re firmly in the mix for the top seed in the East. But Dakich clearly isn’t convinced, and if this season has shown anything, it’s that he isn’t going anywhere quietly either.
