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Stephanie White Must Be Feeling 22 About Coaching Caitlin Clark

New Fever head coach Stephanie White compared Caitlin Clark to pop music icon Taylor Swift.

Grant Young

Sep 25, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) drives to the basket defended by Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington (21) during the first half during game two of the first round of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images
Sep 25, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) drives to the basket defended by Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington (21) during the first half during game two of the first round of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images / Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images

Perhaps the most important domino to fall in the WNBA's offseason coaching carousel has done so on Friday, as the Fever have announced their hiring of former Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White.

Indiana making White their head coach for multiple reasons. Not only does she have a history of both playing for and coaching the Fever in the past, but her adoration of Indiana's franchise player Caitlin Clark — who clearly approves of the hiring — has been made abundantly clear.

White even went as far as to reference Clark in comparison to global music icon Taylor Swift during an April 2024 episode of the 'Fieldhouse Files' podcast with Scott Agness.

"I've been fortunate to be able to call a number of her games throughout the course of the career, but there's been nothing like this season,” White said of Clark on the podcast. “In fact, I called their game at Maryland. I'll never forget it because I was in the same hotel as they were.

“I'm coming down the escalator three hours before the game. The hotel is just packed. Hundreds of people. It's roped off like it would be for an NBA team or an NFL team. There's security guards everywhere.

“These people were in the lobby of the hotel just to get a glimpse of Caitlin Clark and this Iowa Hawkeye team. In fact, yesterday I was talking to somebody who said that she's the Taylor Swift of women's basketball. That's how she's being referred to, from a non-basketball person. It's the craziness of this team and Caitlin Clark's ability right now to captivate a national audience," she added.

Clearly White is Feeling '22'; both as it pertains to the iconic Taylor Swift song and that Clark wears No. 22 for the Fever.

And 22 is also the number White wore for the Fever during her playing days.

The vibes are high in Indiana right now.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

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.

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