New Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White will lead the Caitlin Clark Ship in 2025, tasked with getting the most out of a promising team that also includes two-time WNBA All-Star Aliyah Boston.
By hiring White during an offseason full of consequential leadership changes, the Fever showed a willingness to move boldly to capitalize on Clark’s leadership. historical popularity. White, a Purdue legend and former coach of the Connecticut Sun, joined Indiana after the franchise fired Christie Sides despite Sides leading the club to its first playoff appearance since 2016.
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Within the WNBA, other franchises have acted with similar urgency, leading to rapid turnover of players when there are problems. more eyeballs than ever on women’s basketball.
Seven teams – Atlanta, Indiana, Los Angeles, Connecticut, Washington, Dallas and Chicago – parted ways with their head coaches this offseason. More than half of the league’s 12 organizations will have a new voice leading their locker rooms. This is a notable jump from last offseason when only two coaching changes were made.
“People are taking it more seriously” Unrivaled said president Alex Bazzell, who is married to Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier, in an interview. “They treat it like a professional sports league. These owners want to win and want the best coaches and resources. These are rich people who want to compete and be at the top. »
It is not uncommon in the ultra-competitive professional sports landscape for coaches to be fired after or even in the middle of bad seasons. But change is coming for the 27-year-old WNBA, amid growing pains and new expectations. Many factors led to the league’s busiest offseason leadership carousel in recent memory, including general manager changes in Indiana, Washington, Dallas and Las Vegas (not to mention the arrival of a whole new set of faces with the team). Valkyries of the Golden State).
All five teams selected in the top seven in last year’s WNBA Draft have recently made changes at the head coaching position.
“Losing teams have to find a way to win in an ever-changing league,” said Chris Sienko, former general manager of the Connecticut Sun, who helped the Sun become the best player in Connecticut. first profitable franchise in the WNBA, said in an interview. “Additionally, with the influx of media dollars, teams are looking to improve the quality of coaches in their organization. …We are in uncharted waters.
The collective bargaining agreement is arguably the main catalyst, as it will expire after the 2025 season. The players’ union has decided to disengage of the current agreement. More than 60 players, including Kelsey Plum of the Las Vegas Aces and two-time Fever All-Star Kelsey Mitchell, are seeking free agency.
Many agents have dissuaded veterans from signing long-term contracts, knowing that a new CBA could bring in more money after a banner year marked by unprecedented growth in brand partnerships, media deals and advertising. franchise valuation.
The series of layoffs at coaching and general manager positions represents the evolution of the league and the added responsibility team owners have come to expect. This change in mentality is accompanied by the arrival of three expansion franchises (Toronto, Golden State, Portland) over the next two years. The new owners are expected to put more pressure on less wealthy and less thrifty owners to invest in infrastructure and payroll, especially with the strict salary cap likely to ease under the new CBA deal.
The upcoming deal is expected to provide more flexibility to general managers and player personnel decision-makers, which will speed up front office changes.
“With the new CBA in place in 2026, it will take more strategy and nuance to create and manage the WNBA roster,” agent and Disrupt The Game founder Allison Galer said in an interview. “It is therefore of the utmost importance now more than ever that teams take steps to ensure they have the right personnel, in the front office as a general manager and on the field as a head coach. “
This turnover is indicative of a recruitment process that is already underway as the world’s best players hit the market over the next two years. WNBA All-Stars Plum and Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun are among the headliners in this free agency class. Their team choice will be decided not only based on salary, but also best coaching, front office vision and resource offerings.
This is why the arms race is a topic of conversation. Teams like Phoenix and Las Vegas have invested in standalone facilities while others, like the Sun, have been criticized by their own players for lacking infrastructure. The Sky, which plans to build a $38 million performance center, announced last week that it had hired former Aces assistant Tyler Marsh to replace ex-head coach Teresa Weatherspoon (who was fired after only 11 months of work).
“It’s a business now,” Carol Stiff, a former ESPN executive and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame board member, said in an interview. “There is money to be made, so teams have to win now. There is a responsibility.
Leadership changes also come with lottery teams preparing to choose from a group of stars. 2025 draft class which will include UConn stars Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd. While it may not have the same firepower as the 2024 class highlighted by Clark and Reese, last season was a proof of concept for how dynamic, marketable rookies can quickly change the trajectory of a team’s future on and off the field.
Marsh, who was an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers before accepting a similar position with the Aces, is tasked with relying on the league’s rebounding leader, Angel Reese, and former South Carolina star, Kamilla Cardoso .
Sky’s deal represents what could become a trend of former NBA assistants getting top dollar to stay or move to the W. More importantly, the $2.2 billion over 11 years media rights agreement for the league should translate into more money for the coaching staff. Phoenix and Las Vegas were the only teams to pay their coach at least $1 million, but that could change as salaries become more competitive and the talent pool increases as college and international coaches turn towards the W.
“Everyone in the WNBA needs to step up to the next level, whether it’s on the agency side or the team side, both in business and in basketball,” Galer added. “Progress comes at a price, and we are seeing exponential growth on the business side that is matched by significant changes on the basketball side.”
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