Stephanie White is in the middle of one of the unique careers in professional sports. An accomplished WNBA coach — her career record is 92-56 — she was given the on-court keys three months ago to the Indiana Fever, where she will coach the All-Star quartet of DeWanna Bonner, Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, as well as three-time WNBA champ Natasha Howard.
Away from the Fever, she is a basketball analyst for ESPN, calling men’s and women’s college basketball and the NBA. She recently sat down for an extended conversation with me on the Sports Media Podcast, where she addressed the dual roles of broadcasting and coaching the Fever.
It goes without saying that Caitlin Clark isn’t just an All-Star player. She’s the most famous women’s basketball player in America and one of the most well-known basketball players in the country, regardless of gender. How do you manage, and I don’t mean this pejoratively, the circus that will be around her?
I think first and foremost, she does an outstanding job of managing it all. Like, she’s incredibly humble. She understands the big picture. So she views it understanding her celebrity, No. 1. But No. 2, she’s a Midwest kid, a Midwest person and she is who she is. She tries to live her life in an authentic way….
