Indiana Fever part ways with head coach Christie Sides

After two seasons, the Indiana Fever have made the decision to make a change at head coach with a clear replacement on deck.

After a successful season, which included their first postseason since 2016, Indiana Fever parted ways with head coach Christie Sides after posting a record of 33-47 (.413) in her two years in the role.

It has been a rollercoaster of a tenure at times for Sides. Towards the beginning of the season it felt that she might have not been the one for the job. But as the season went on it felt that both her role and the team as a whole had begun to hit their stride.

Ultimately, the Fever decided that she was not the one for the job as the franchise looks to be in an increasingly win now position. Now they are likely making a move that isn’t incredibly unfamiliar in the WNBA.

As reported by Annie Costabile, the Fever have been in talks with Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White.

White is one of the best coaches across the WNBA right now and is familiar with the Fever, having both played for the franchise and been on the sideline from 2011-2016, with 2015-2016 being in the main role as head coach. She’s also an Indiana native.

As stated before, this isn’t an incredibly unfamiliar move in the WNBA. Assuming this is the direction the Fever go in, my mind immediately equates it to the Las Vegas Aces moving on from Bill Laimbeer to hire Becky Hammon.

Laimbeer was the one to build the team up, including drafting some high quality #1 draft picks, and get them back to the playoffs. Sounds like Christie Sides.

Hammon was the coach to take the team to the next level and eventually win multiple championships. That is what the Fever will hope the 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year Stephanie White will do for them.

I believe the Fever’s process got sped up this year due to just how good Caitlin Clark was. Add that on top of the chemistry with fellow All-WNBA caliber players Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell which has them all playing some of their best basketball, and the Indiana Fever find themselves in a position to win sooner than potentially expected.

The Fever will be looking to compliment the big three on the court with a big three in the office positions after hiring Kelly Krauskopf as President of Basketball and Business Operations along with Amber Cox as Chief Operating Officer and General Manager. Now they search for their head coach to fill the last spot with the potential of roster changing moves in free agency.