Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White has two assignments — similar yet vast — in her new job.
The first is to develop the Fever’s young talent, notably star Caitlin Clark, so the team wins games and contends for championships because that would be ideal for the franchise.
The second is to develop the Fever’s young talent, notably star Caitlin Clark, so the team wins games and contends for championships because that would be ideal for the WNBA as a whole.
The WNBA is coming off its most successful season ever with record attendance, television ratings, merchandise sales and general attention. It was powered by the arrival of a star-studded rookie class led, of course, by Clark.
The rookie out of Iowa is the Tiger Woods of women’s basketball, capturing the imagination of fans, sponsors and media who previously expressed casual, if any interest.
Yet it can only continue, let alone grow, if Clark is playing at peak levels — both in production and with her unique flair for the game — while Indiana is involved in major games and deep playoff runs.
The task to help make this happen falls to White, an Indiana native and former star at Purdue. She played five seasons in the WNBA and has had head coaching stints with the Fever (2015-16), Vanderbilt in the college ranks and most recently the Connecticut Sun, where she was league coach of the year in 2023. She also did broadcast work, including Clark’s Iowa games. She understands the opportunity.
“I spoke with Caitlin last night,” White told ESPN over the weekend. “And I think just overall excitement. I have been watching Caitlin play since she was an eighth grader, when I was coaching in the college realm and covering her games in college, and just an exciting time for me, very excited to be working with her and this young team.
“She’s a student of the game,” White continued. “She loves the game of basketball. She has been so great in how she’s handled all of the attention. She just wants to play. She just wants to win, and I’m looking forward to coaching players like that and this young franchise, this young team, and taking our next steps.”
The next steps are significant. Indiana ended a seven-year playoff drought this season, but were swept in the first round — by White’s Sun.
The Fever want more. The WNBA could use more.
Clark’s impact on television ratings alone is unprecedented. In 2023, the WNBA Finals averaged 728,000 viewers, per ESPN. One year later, all games on ESPN/ABC averaged 1.2 million viewers and the 2024 Finals (even without Caitlin Clark) hit 1.6 million, an increase of 115 percent, per ESPN.
How staggering are those numbers? Consider NBA games during the 2023-24 NBA season averaged 1.56 million on ESPN/ABC/TNT.
During the 2024 regular season, Clark and the Fever played in 21 games that attracted more than a million viewers and five that reached over two million. The WNBA draft (2.45 million viewers) was a record. The WNBA All-Star game (3.44 million viewers) was a record.
All of this brought increased revenue, advertising, ticket sales and corporate backing. Teams began traveling via chartered flights. The WNBA announced future expansion plans in San Francisco, Portland and Toronto, with more cities banging on the door.
Business is beginning to boom for a 27-year-old league that had previously been mostly treading water and heavily subsidized by the NBA.
There is no question that the WNBA is filled with many great players and great teams — including players who are better than Caitlin Clark (although she was first team All-WNBA as a rookie).
Yet none have been the draw. They just haven’t. The PGA Tour had lots of great golfers before Tiger Woods took it to new mainstream heights. It happens. It’s on the sport to capitalize on the good fortune of getting such a star.
Clark immediately moved the needle, in part because she was fresh off a trip to the NCAA title game where her Iowa Hawkeyes lost to South Carolina in front of 18.9 million viewers.
Yet one of the success stories for the WNBA was that fans maintained interest while Indiana shook off a rough start (they were 1-8). The Fever not only began winning, but Clark settled into the program and put up record numbers via lots of dazzling passes and logo-three jumpers.
The audience wants to see the stars play the hits and Clark did just that all summer long.
Now White needs to accentuate it and not just because the Fever have a great young nucleus of talent (including 2023 WNBA rookie of the year Aliyah Boston), but because the WNBA has a lot of room for continued growth.
Michael Jordan would have still been Michael Jordan back in the 1990s, but the NBA sure did benefit from the Chicago Bulls giving him strong coaching and twice building complimentary rosters to maximize his talents to win six championships.
The more Clark plays to her potential — top five player in the league — and plays to her style — exciting and high octane — the better for Indiana and the better for the WNBA.
