Stephanie White has set a bold target for Caitlin Clark and her team-mates after returning to the Indiana Fever as head coach.
The Fever made the playoffs this year, only to be swept in the first round by the Connecticut Sun. That led to Christie Sides being fired and White returning to the organization she previously served as a head coach and assistant coach on a two-year contract.
Sides was accused of not making the most of Clark’s talent. Therefore, the Rookie of the Year’s relationship with White, 47, will be key to the Fever’s hopes of championship glory. The new coach has made it clear that is her goal.
In an interview with The Fan – Indianapolis, White was asked what is the next level for the Fever. Making it clear what she expects, she issued a four-word response: “It’s competing for championships.”
She added: “The expectation was always to be competing for championships, and I think now we have an opportunity again to be doing that.”
Whether that will be next year or future down the line remains to be seen, with White acknowledging that the improvements required aren’t going to happen overnight.
(Image: Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
White knows Clark will be key to her plans, describing the 22-year-old as a “generational talent”. She also singled out Aliyah Boston, saying she will “go down in history as probably the best center that we’ve seen in our league”.
White said: “You think about building around those two, championships is the expectation. You compete for championships year in and year out.”
Her return to Indiana comes with interest and coverage of the WNBA at an all-time high, with Clark’s popularity a major factor in its boom, according to Sue Bird. The women’s basketball legend told The Deal podcast: “Even if you look at the 2023 viewership in the WNBA Finals, it was way higher than 2022.
“It was starting, the fire was there. But Caitlin came and she poured gasoline all over that thing and just took it to another level.”
Bird’s assessment is backed up by numbers with the WNBA enjoying its most successful year in terms of viewership and ticket sales. The league attracted an all-time record of more than 54million unique viewers across its broadcast networks, which include ABC, CBS and ESPN.
A record 22 regular-season games averaged at least one million viewers, while the season as a whole saw 136.29million hours of coverage consumed across all national networks.
