One of the faces of women’s basketball in Indiana is returning home to join the Indiana Fever coaching staff. Stephanie White, a former Indiana Miss Basketball, will be an assistant coach for the Fever under Lin Dunn.
White was one of the original Fever players in 2000, the inaugural season. She retired from the WNBA in 2004 and since has been an assistant coach for the Chicago Sky as well as an analyst and in-studio host for the Big Ten Network and ESPN.
“I am so excited to be returning home to the Indiana Fever,” said White. “It is such a wonderful opportunity to be reunited with not only one of the greatest minds in the game, but also one of the greatest people, in Lin Dunn. I look forward to working with her and learning from her on a day to day basis. I also want to thank Lin and Kelly for allowing me to be a part of such a special franchise. I look forward to working with the team and continuing our quest for a WNBA Championship.”
Stephanie White replaces Jim Lewis who departed last season to become the head assistant at Georgia Tech. She will work alongside Gary Kloppenburg and try to help lead the Fever to their seventh straight playoff appearance.
In 1999, she led Purdue to the school’s first ever national championship and finished second in school history in points and assists. She has since been inducted into the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame. She is also so recent that she played with Tamika Catchings and Ebony Hoffman (who is a free agent).
I am happy to see White return with the Fever. She has always been a fan favorite, receiving a loud applause while in town with the Chicago Sky. Not only did she help Indiana acknowledge women’s basketball, but she help make it more prevalent.
In 2002, I first met White in my first year as a ball boy with the Fever. She was always one of the most friendly and outgoing individuals on the team.
I talked to her last about a month ago when she was in Bloomington broadcasting an IU women’s game on the Big Ten Network. If I’m not calling the game for the Big Ten Network’s Student U, I provide stats to the talent for the national broadcast. Despite seeing her just a few times a year, she was as nice as always, giving me a hug and catching up. She really enjoys covering women’s basketball and I could tell she still had an itch to coach.
Originally from Indiana, attending Seeger Memorial High School, this new assistant coaching role is a job upgrade and closer to home for White. She always drove separately from Chicago when the Sky were in town to play the Fever because she would bring family and friends and like to drive around town.
This is quality hire by Lin Dunn who enters her third season as head coach of the Indiana Fever.