Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever Coach Steps Aside Temporarily

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White has stepped aside for an unspecified time, the team announced on Thursday.

The Fever, led by superstar guard Caitlin Clark, will play under assistant coach Austin Kelly while White attends to a personal matter. Kelly expects to keep things looking the same for the Fever amid a 6–5 start to the season and an appearance in the Commissioner’s Cup finals just around the corner, on July 1.

“It’s going to be the same. I think we are an extension of each other,” Kelly told reporters on Thursday.

“The message is still the same that we talk about in the locker room: playing for each other, getting it done on the defensive end, and then having that help fuel us on the offensive end. But the vibes are good. Everybody’s going to be ready to play coming out.”

White and Kelly have worked together for two years, going back to their days with the Connecticut Sun in 2023 and 2024. Both came to the Fever before this year after Indiana parted ways with former head coach Christie Sides.

Indiana has fielded one of the better teams on both ends of the court this season, ranking fourth on offense at 84 points per game and fourth on defense at 77 points per game. Kelly wants to keep building things on the court as White did before.

“Just having each other’s back, [and] that trust,” Kelly said. “Early in the year, we’ve been pretty good at the point of attacking our ball screens. It’s just that second and third rotation. So, … we’ve cleaned that up over the last few games.”

“And we’re flying around,” he added. “We’re getting deflections. We’re doing a great job of playing personnel tendencies and forcing teams into shots we want, and that translates to easy buckets and us in transition.” And so, we want to continue to do that on the defensive end—make teams uncomfortable.”

Fever Turns Attention to Golden State

Indiana visits the expansion Golden State Valkyries on Thursday, the first game for the Fever since an 88–71 win over the Sun on Tuesday. That Commissioner’s Cup semifinal game included a scuffle involving Clark, but Kelly expressed focus on the upcoming game in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“The Chase Center’s beautiful. It’s good to be in this building. It’s a great time for this franchise, for the Valkyries, and we’re looking forward to the environment,” Kelly said. “We’ve seen it on TV. They’ve got great fans, and we’re just looking forward to being out here and playing in that.”

While an expansion team, the Valkyries aren’t a pushover amid a 5–6 start to the season. Valkyries guard Kayla Thornton has been the main go-to player with 14.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

“That team plays hard,” Kelly said. “I’ve been really impressed with their effort and their connectivity. They do a great job of defending on the defensive end. They move the ball offensively. And with the new faces coming in, with the players out at EuroBasket, I think that we’ve got to kind of lean on our principles a little bit more and playing personnel.”

“They’ll do the same things offensively, but it really just comes down to us just taking care of us, I think,” he added. “They’re doing a great job this year. I’ve loved watching them play.”

For Fever guard Lexie Hull, it’s a homecoming after previously playing college basketball at Stanford. Hull has played for the Fever since 2022, when the team made her the No. 6 pick in the draft.

“I gave tickets to 22 people, but a lot of people bought their own, so … it’ll be a good, good crowd.”