Stephanie White Leaves Indiana Fever to Coach at Vanderbilt
- By Shorty
- May 30, 2016
- 2 min read
Last Monday, it was announced that Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White has accepted the head coaching position at Vanderbilt. She will finish the remainder of the 2016 season with the Fever before moving on to Tennessee. Before taking over as head coach of the Fever, she was an assistant under Hall of Fame coach Lin Dunn (who is now an assistant at Kentucky ). ESPN analyst Carolyn Peck will join White's staff as an associate head coach and will run operations at Vanderbilt until White's arrival in the fall. Here is Shorty's take on Stephanie White leaving the Indiana Fever to coach at Vanderbilt..
I thought she was a great hire to replace Lin Dunn who was a long time coach of the Fever (2008 - 2014). In a season full of ups and downs, they eventually finished third in the eastern conference (20 - 14) and made a surprising trip to the WNBA finals before losing to the Minnesota Lynx in game five. However, on Opening Week Central of the WNBA 365 Show, our co-host Kristul Thomas made a point that I definitely agreed with and that was on the subject of salary. According to SportsDay, Dawn Staley of South Carolina makes approximately $655.000 a season compared to a WNBA coach (no data has been released publicly) who makes in between $300,000 - $400,000 a year. Thomas also brought up another subject in regards to having more input on decisions made at the program. Having control over recruiting. player personnel. and developing young talent is something a potential college coach has the ability to do unlike in the pro ranks.
With Tamika Catchings set to retire after the season, I'm sure the Fever would've liked to retain Stephanie White as head coach to continue to build with the young talent on the roster. Unfortunately, a better opportunity came to Steph White in the form of a vacancy at Vanderbilt and she couldn't let the opportunity pass her by. Along with Carolyn Peck, Vanderbilt has also added Joy Cheeks as an assistant coming over from Ohio St. With a new staff in place, White will leave for Vanderbilt while not forgetting the magic she created in Indiana, especially winning a title with the Fever in 2012.
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