Stephanie Joanne White (formerly Stephanie White-McCarty; born June 20, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player and the head coach of the Indiana Fever of the WNBA.[1] She was previously head coach of the Vanderbilt Commodores women's basketball team from 2016 to 2021.[2] Prior to Vanderbilt, she was the head coach of the Indiana Fever of the WNBA for the 2015 and 2016 season.[3] As an intercollegiate athlete, she was named the winner of the Wade Trophy in 1999, which recognizes the top female basketball player in the nation.[4]
Indiana Fever | |||||||||||||||
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Position | Head coach | ||||||||||||||
League | WNBA | ||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||
Born | Danville, Illinois, U.S. | June 20, 1977||||||||||||||
Listed height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||||||||||||||
Listed weight | 155 lb (70 kg) | ||||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||||
High school | Seeger (West Lebanon, Indiana) | ||||||||||||||
College | Purdue (1995–1999) | ||||||||||||||
WNBA draft | 1999: 2nd round, 21st overall pick | ||||||||||||||
Selected by the Charlotte Sting | |||||||||||||||
Playing career | 1999–2003 | ||||||||||||||
Position | Shooting guard / small forward | ||||||||||||||
Number | 22 | ||||||||||||||
Coaching career | 2003–present | ||||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||||
As player: | |||||||||||||||
1999 | Charlotte Sting | ||||||||||||||
2000–2004 | Indiana Fever | ||||||||||||||
As coach: | |||||||||||||||
2003–2004 | Ball State (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
2004–2005 | Kansas State (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
2005–2007 | Toledo (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
2007–2010 | Chicago Sky (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
2011–2014 | Indiana Fever (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
2015–2016 | Indiana Fever | ||||||||||||||
2016–2021 | Vanderbilt | ||||||||||||||
2023–2024 | Connecticut Sun | ||||||||||||||
2025–present | Indiana Fever | ||||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
As head coach:
As assistant coach: As player:
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Stats at Basketball Reference | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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White was the 1995 Indiana Miss Basketball and was also named 1995 Gatorade National Player of the Year and the USA Today National Player of the Year. White attended Seeger High School in West Lebanon, Indiana, where she was named a High School All-American by the WBCA. She participated in the WBCA High School All-America Game in 1995, scoring seventeen points, and earning MVP honors.[5][6] She led Purdue University to the 1999 NCAA Women's National Championship in basketball. She played five years in the WNBA, one with the Charlotte Sting and four with the Indiana Fever. She retired in 2004.
White began her coaching career with several assistant coaching positions at Ball State, Kansas State, and the University of Toledo before joining the Chicago Sky as an assistant coach in 2007. After serving as assistant coach for four years, she became head coach of the Indiana Fever in 2014, leading the team to the WNBA Finals in her first season. White then served as head coach of the Vanderbilt Commodores from 2016 to 2021. Following a brief hiatus, she returned to the WNBA in 2023 to coach the Connecticut Sun, leading them to consecutive playoff appearances. She rejoined the Fever as head coach in 2024.
College career
editWhite attended Purdue University, where she was named National College Player of the Year, Indiana NCAA Woman of the Year, and Big Ten Conference Player of the Year on the way to leading Purdue to the NCAA National Championship in 1999.
Purdue statistics
editSource[7]
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
Year | Team | GP | Points | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995–96 | Purdue | 31 | 336 | 40.7% | 37.3% | 76.6% | 4.3 | 4.5 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 10.8 |
1996–97 | Purdue | 28 | 460 | 43.5% | 31.4% | 78.4% | 5.3 | 4.5 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 16.4 |
1997–98 | Purdue | 33 | 679 | 44.7% | 32.4% | 84.4% | 6.1 | 4.8 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 20.6 |
1998–99 | Purdue | 35 | 707 | 46.8% | 43.7% | 79.5% | 5.4 | 4.5 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 20.2 |
Career | Purdue | 127 | 2182 | 44.5% | 36.5% | 80.3% | 5.3 | 4.6 | 2.2 | 0.4 | 17.2 |
USA Basketball
editWhite competed with USA Basketball as a member of the 1997 Jones Cup Team that won the silver medal in Taipei. Several of the games were close, with the USA team winning four games by six points or fewer, including an overtime game in the semifinal match against Japan. The gold medal game against South Korea was also close, but the USA fell 76–71 to claim the silver medal for the event. White was the second leading scorer for the team, averaging 10.3 points per game.[8]
Awards and honors
edit- 1999—Wade Trophy
- 1999—Winner of the Honda Sports Award for basketball[9][10]
Professional playing career
editWhite began her five-year WNBA career with the Charlotte Sting in 1999 under her married name, Stephanie White-McCarty. She was acquired a year later in an expansion draft by the Indiana Fever to lead the team's inaugural season roster. After four years with the Fever, she ranked third in games played (112) and three point field goals (92), and fourth in scoring (684). She averaged 5.9 points and 2.0 assists per game.
WNBA career statistics
editGP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
TO | Turnovers per game | FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
Bold | Career best | ° | League leader |
Regular season
editYear | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | Charlotte | 30 | 5 | 18.8 | 40.8 | 35.4 | 90.9 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 5.3 |
2000 | Indiana | 32 | 12 | 19.8 | 39.8 | 38.6 | 82.6 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 7.2 |
2001 | Indiana | 30 | 0 | 16.8 | 38.0 | 40.4 | 77.4 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 5.6 |
2003 | Indiana | 28 | 10 | 20.6 | 34.7 | 34.5 | 93.8 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 6.9 |
2004 | Indiana | 22 | 12 | 20.5 | 37.5 | 33.3 | 70.6 | 1.3 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 4.1 |
Career | 5 years, 2 teams | 142 | 39 | 19.2 | 38.1 | 36.5 | 83.1 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 5.9 |
Post-playing career
editShe retired from the WNBA in 2004, and went on to become the assistant coach at Ball State (2003–04), Kansas State (2004–05), and the University of Toledo (2005–06 and 2006–07), before going to the Chicago Sky.[citation needed]
Since 2007, White has also served as a college basketball analyst for ESPN and the Big Ten Network, including studio work and co-hosting the network's coverage of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament.[citation needed]
White returned to the Indiana Fever as an assistant coach in 2011.[11] When Lin Dunn retired as head coach of the Fever in 2014, White became head coach.[12] In her first season as head coach, Indiana went 20–14 overall and made their second WNBA Finals appearance, losing the best-of-five series to Minnesota. In her second season with the Fever, White finished the season with a 17–17 record and lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Phoenix Mercury.[citation needed]
On May 23, 2016, White accepted the head coaching job for the Vanderbilt Commodores women's basketball team. She completed the 2016 season with the Fever finishing her time there with a 37–31 overall record and a 6–6 record in the postseason. Through her first two seasons at Vanderbilt, White compiled a 21–40 overall record and went 7–25 against Southeastern Conference competition.[13][better source needed] Her fifth season at Vanderbilt was shortened in January 2021, due to COVID-19 concerns, injuries, and a depleted roster.[14] The school announced that White would not be returning as coach on April 6, 2021.[15][better source needed]
White returned to coaching in the WNBA in 2023 as head coach of the Connecticut Sun. The team had 27–13 and 28–12 records in 2023 and 2024 respectively, losing in the second round each time. White and the Sun parted ways on October 28, 2024, following two consecutive playoff semifinals appearances.[16]
She was hired by the Indiana Fever for a second stint on November 1.[17]
Head coaching record
editCollege
editSeason | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vanderbilt Commodores (Southeastern Conference) (2016–2021) | |||||||||
2016–17 | Vanderbilt | 14–16 | 4–12 | 13th | |||||
2017–18 | Vanderbilt | 7–24 | 3–13 | T-11th | |||||
2018–19 | Vanderbilt | 7–23 | 2–14 | 14th | |||||
2019–20 | Vanderbilt | 14–16 | 4–12 | T-12th | |||||
2020–21 | Vanderbilt | 4–4 | 0–3 | 14th | Season ended early due to COVID-19 | ||||
Vanderbilt: | 46–83 (.357) | 13–54 (.194) | |||||||
Total: | 46–83 (.357) | ||||||||
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
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WNBA
editRegular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IND | 2015 | 34 | 20 | 14 | .588 | 3rd in East | 11 | 6 | 5 | .545 | Lost in WNBA Finals |
IND | 2016 | 34 | 17 | 17 | .500 | 3rd in East | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost in First Round |
CON | 2023 | 40 | 27 | 13 | .675 | 2nd in East | 7 | 3 | 4 | .429 | Lost in Semifinals |
CON | 2024 | 40 | 28 | 12 | .700 | 2nd in East | 7 | 4 | 3 | .571 | Lost in Semifinals |
Career | 148 | 92 | 56 | .622 | 26 | 13 | 13 | .500 |
Personal life
editShe married Brent McCarty in 1998.[18] They divorced in 2002.[19]
White resides in Nashville, Tennessee, with her three young children and partner Lisa Salters.[20]
References
edit- ^ "Indiana Fever Hire Stephanie White as Head Coach". fever.wnba.com. Retrieved 2024-11-01.
- ^ "Vanderbilt confirms hiring of coach Stephanie White". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
- ^ "Stephanie White and Fever Issue Statement on Indiana Coaching Position". Indiana Fever. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
- ^ "The Wade Trophy". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Retrieved 30 Jun 2014.
- ^ "WBCA High School All-America Game Box Scores". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved 29 Jun 2014.
- ^ "WBCA High School All-America Game Team MVP's". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved 29 Jun 2014.
- ^ "Purdue Media Guide" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-09-05.
- ^ "1997 Women's R. William Jones Cup". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "PAST HONDA SPORTS AWARD WINNERS FOR BASKETBALL". THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
- ^ "Stephanie White Tabbed to IBHOF Silver Anniversary Team". Purdue University Athletics. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
- ^ Beas, Mike (2011-05-20). "She's back with the Fever". Newspapers.com. The Daily Journal. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
- ^ Allison, Autumn (2014-09-24). "She's right at home". Newspapers.com. The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
- ^ "VUCommodores.Com".
- ^ Feinberg, Adam (January 18, 2021). "Vanderbilt women's basketball season discontinued over COVID-19, depleted roster". The Tennessean. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
- ^ "Vanderbilt Parts Ways with Stephanie White". vucommodores.com. April 6, 2021. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
- ^ "White out as Sun head coach after two seasons". ESPN.com. 2024-10-28. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
- ^ "WNBA's Fever name White as new head coach". ESPN.com. 2024-11-01. Retrieved 2024-11-01.
- ^ Anderson, Kelli. "Homegrown Hoosier Hero Stephanie White-McCarty leads Purdue on a quest to win an NCAA title". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com.
- ^ "ESPN.com: WNBA - Fever's White makes healthy, happy return". a.espncdn.com.
- ^ "Kravitz: Bevilaqua, White decry Indiana gay marriage ban". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2017-09-17.