Report Suggests Christie Sides' Days as Indiana Fever Coach Could Be Numbered
Indiana Fever second-year head coach Christie Sides was the subject of much conversation this season.
When the Fever started the 2024 WNBA season with a 1-8 record, much of the Fever's fanbase was calling for Sides to get fired.
But then Indiana turned their season around; finishing with a 20-20 regular season record and making it to the WNBA playoffs for the first time since 2016.
While some of Sides' decisions down the stretch still incited controversy, the general sentiment was that she had done enough to keep her job as head coach.
This sentiment was strengthened once Indiana Fever president of basketball operations Kelly Krauskopf praised Sides by saying, "I was really impressed with the progress [the Fever] made, and how Christie is a resilient leader... and she's a good person and a great leader," in an October press conference.
However, Sides' future appears to be up in the air once again after it was announced that Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White — who was an assistant coach of the Fever (where she spent five seasons as a WNBA player) from 2011-2014, before becoming Indiana's head coach in the 2015-2016 seasons — could become available as a head coach this offseason.
This made Fever fans clamor for White to come back to Indiana, as she's highly respected as a coach. And a recent update made by Chicago Sun-Times reporter Annie Costabile suggests that their wishes could be granted.
"THE LATEST: Stephanie White has been in talks with multiple teams regarding her future. The three teams remaining in picture at this point are the Sky, Fever and Sun according to multiple league sources," Costabile wrote on X Wednesday.
THE LATEST: Stephanie White has been in talks with multiple teams regarding her future. The three teams remaining in picture at this point are the Sky, Fever and Sun according to multiple league sources.
— Annie Costabile (@AnnieCostabile) October 23, 2024
Hearing that the Fever are one of three finalists to secure White is a fascinating update. To be clear, even if White does join Indiana, it doesn't guarantee that Sides is out as head coach. White could join Indiana in another capacity other than head coach.
Then again, given her head coaching pedigree, White being the Fever's head coach seems like the most plausible position for her.
White was among the people who congratulated Caitlin Clark when she broke the NCAA all-time scoring record earlier this year.
A long list of people congratulated Caitlin Clark when she broke the all time scoring record, including Tom Brady and Peyton Manning!
— CMSLA[G]LE (@cm_slagle) October 18, 2024
pic.twitter.com/9h1jNmVWaf
Perhaps she'll have an opportunity to congratulate her in person very soon.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.