Caitlin Clark Sends Strong Message About Stephanie White After Fever Exit

Caitlin Clark said Thursday that Indiana Fever players carry as much responsibility for the team's results as coach Stephanie White's staff, one week after Las Vegas eliminated Indiana in the first round of the WNBA playoffs.

The Aces won the series 2-1 and closed it with a 94-83 win in Game 3 on Oct. 1. Indiana had finished the regular season 28-16, the No. 6 seed. The Fever entered the season as the defending Commissioner's Cup champion.

White just completed her second season since returning to coach the Fever. The Associated Press reported rumors about her job status in the first weeks of the season and questions about a sideline exchange with Clark during a May 30 loss at Portland. The team held a meeting the following Monday.

Later, White used a short pregame news conference to accuse outsiders of trying to tear the team apart, according to the AP.

Before Game 1 against the Aces, White said the criticism had been difficult to process.

"Certainly, my therapist helps. My family helps. I have the luxury of being able to sort of minimize what gets in," White said, according to CBS Sports. "But, at the end of the day, nobody likes to be a subject of ugliness from the internet."

White was named the WNBA Coach of the Month for July. She won Coach of the Year in 2023 with the Connecticut Sun.

Clark said the Fever job comes with criticism of everything the coach does.

"I really appreciate Steph," Clark said. "And this is, I like to say, the best job in women's basketball and possibly women's sports, getting to lead this franchise that has so much notoriety, but at the same time it can come with some negatives, and people are going to criticize everything that you do, and that's just reality, and people expect greatness."

"But I think for personally my relationship with Steph, she's somebody that's always supported me, and it's been really fun getting to play for her," Clark continued. "She just tries to win, and she's competitive, and she expects great things out of us. She has a fiery passion about her that I really, really admire, and I think I have a lot of that in myself too."

"One of my most special memories of this year is getting to win a gold medal with her in Berlin," Clark added. "That's not something anybody can ever take away from us, and I think that's something that we'll both probably keep in our offices and have those memories together. So just really thankful for all the time that she's given to this organization."

Clark then pushed back on the idea that coaching should absorb all of the blame when a team falls short of expectations.

"And I think sometimes people don't always realize, when people don't live up to certain expectations, it's not always on the coaching staff," Clark detailed. "There's a lot of other areas that need to be evaluated. It's just as much on us players to play better and help us win, whatever it is. And I thought our coaching staff spent a lot of time and energy to try to put us in a position to be successful. But overall, just really thankful for her and really thankful for all the coaches. Obviously, at times, our assistants and staff members and people that give a lot of their time don't always get a lot of credit. So just really thankful for all of them."

USA Basketball named White an assistant for the FIBA Women's World Cup in Berlin on a staff led by Duke coach Kara Lawson.

Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase, who has since led her team to the WNBA Finals, and Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts were also on the staff.

Clark and Fever center Aliyah Boston made the roster. They were the second and third Fever players to play for the United States at a World Cup, after Tamika Catchings.

Clark came off the bench behind Chelsea Gray in the tournament opener and finished with 14 points, 11 assists, and no turnovers in a 94-61 win over China. The United States beat France 97-79 in the Sept. 13 final for its fifth straight World Cup title.

Assistants Austin Kelly and Briann January ran the Fever during the league's break while White was with the national team.

Under White, Indiana posted the best offensive rating in WNBA history at 115.

Clark averaged 22.3 points and 8.3 assists in 40 games, while Kelsey Mitchell averaged 24.7 points.

White also coached the Fever in 2016, when the league paused for a month during the Olympics.