September 5, 2025 • 12 mins
Indiana Fever Head Coach Stephanie White makes her weekly appearance on Query & Company and starts her conversation with Jake Query about the decision to not bring Caitlin Clark back this season. She states that the decision was not impacted by the unavailability of some of the other players on the roster and provides the former player perspective on not being able to be out on the floor for most of a season.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us now. And you know what, Eddie, we completely
dropped the ball here when when we booked and scheduled
for coach Stephanie White to come on because it's not
right at the top of the segment, we can't do
our typical musical bed intro. And I actually, and maybe
this was this was actually the sports radio GUIDs looking
(00:22):
down upon us because Coach White had requested Taylor Swift.
And then she's really no, no Swifty intro, right, no
Swift intro, but she joins us nonetheless. Uh, Stephanie, I apologize.
I didn't think about the fact that we're not coming
right out of a break and we don't have Taylor
for you. Sorry, we lost you there for a second.
Now go ahead.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm a conspiracy right now.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well listen my apologies. What we will get. I've got
nothing against Taylor Swift. Now, are you a Taylor Swift
fan per se or is it just because she's been
in the news.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, I let me tell this Swift fan. Tell my
kids when, especially when they were young, we would seeing
Taylor Swift in the kitchen all day long. So yeah,
Taylor Swift fan. But yes, of course she's been in
the news. So we've got to send out a congratulations, right, Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Fair enough. Was Kaitlyn Clark okay, when the Travis Kelcey
engagement came out. We know she's a big Taylor Swift fan.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
She was, she was definitely celebrating, Okay, big Chiefs fan.
So I mean, what more could she ask for?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Actually? Yes, because not And for those that don't know,
Kaitlin Clark has been a Chief fan I believe growing
up because of her, you know, in Iowa, that's that's
kind of Chiefs territory. Let's get to that, which is
obviously the elephant in the room, Coach Stephanie White of
the Indiana Fever, and that is the announcement yesterday that
Kaitlyn Clark will miss the remainder of the season. At
(01:42):
the risk of being elementary with this, would this decision
have been the same if, for example, the situation was
different with the rest of your roster and you were
one hundred percent healthy and she was the only missing piece,
et cetera.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, I would have been the same. I mean, you know,
we're we're at that point where you know, we want
to make sure that we are putting Caitlin's long term
health and wellness above everything else, and you know, making
sure that she's one hundred percent healthy and ready before
she returned was the priority. And you know, unfortunately we've
just kind of we've run out of time to get
her ready in the way that she would need to
(02:18):
be ready at this time of year.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Which injury is it that is holding her back?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I mean essentially the original injury in July, the growing
and and you think about you know, with the ankle,
we don't really know because she's been rehabing. Broke both congruently,
so we could have been in the same position. It
certainly slowed the progress. But at the same time, you know,
with with soft tissue injuries and everything else, it's it's
just they're so tricky, you know. And Caitlyn's been doing
(02:49):
her part. I mean, she's been trying incredibly hard in
the weight room, working on the floor, uh, to get
ready because the the intent was for her to return,
and we've just we've just unfortunately run out of run
out of runway.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
You know, I look at it. Stephanie White is our guest,
the head coach of the Fever, and coach I look
at it, and you tell me if there's an element
of this that is true. I know that you're disappointed
for Caitlyn Clark. I know that Kaitlyn Clark's disappointed. I
know that you're disappointed for the fans, and I know
the fans are disappointed. But I also feel a disappointment
(03:21):
for the rest of the roster because I think this
is a year where you have players that have been
put in some of the most unusual circumstances that you
could see, and yet they have stayed the course and
it is owed to them to give them the best
opportunity to win games and get into the postseason and
(03:42):
win with it. What has been kind of the mental,
I guess approach of your roster with all that has
gone on.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, you know what, I've given these these women. I
give them a lot of credit. Now, first and foremost,
they're great human beings, and so their ability to want
empathize with their teammates, but at the same time understand
that that that this is an opportunity for other teammates,
and and to to be flexible, to be resilient. I
(04:12):
mean all of these things, and I think that the
mindset of the team and the mentality of this team
is to do whatever it takes. And you know, we
we spoke so much early in the season about the
depth of our roster and how it's gonna be hard
for everybody to play and and what it looks like.
And because of the depth of our roster, we're still
in a situation where where we're fighting to get into
the playoffs in spite of everything that we've gone through,
(04:34):
and we've got you know, five players that we've we've
lost to now season ending injuries for which started at
various points in the season, and uh, and for our
team to just continue to put one foot in front
of the other, to continue to elevate the way that
they've played and elevate one another and position ourselves to be,
you know, right in the hunt where we are. I
(04:55):
think it's it's it's an incredible it's an incredible testament
to to their mindset, their tough if, their resilience, their
ability to bounce back. There have been ability to handle
disappointments and then fuel it in ways that that you're
able to create positive, positive outcomes.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
When you look at and I know there's basketball to
be played this year, coach. Okay, so I don't mean
it that way, but when you look at next year
when you're you're getting ready with a full roster of health. Okay,
do you look at the challenges this year as something
that will most benefit you in terms of just minutes
experience for your depth or is it more so psychological
(05:35):
experience and the mental advantage that can come with the
adversity they had to fight through this year.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I think both, uh, you know, and when I when
I think about really the cultural roots that are that
are that are being grown and established and you know,
anchored in for lack of a better term, it's just
I think it's gonna it's gonna pay dividends for for
this group down the road in the future. I mean,
there's no substitute for experience and the experience that this
(06:03):
group has had of constantly taking hits and disappointments and
frustrations and being able to weather the storm regardless. The
foundation is being built so where we're going to be
able to handle those moments, continue to handle those moments
in games, and we're gonna be able to understand what
we have to do to push through tough moments in games,
and we're going to have now had that experience throughout
(06:25):
the course of this season to understand and quite frankly,
you know, be humbled enough to know how important every
moment is. And I think it's going to pay dividends,
you know, down the road and in the future for
this group.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
The Fever are in action tonight against the Chicago's guys
seven thirty at the field House. Pregame at seven fifteen,
No Angel Reach for Chicago tonight. Coach, I wanted you
to if you could kind of expand on this, and
that is the decision with Caitlin Clark yesterday. I mean
that announcement, and obviously I realize you guys were aware
that will probably well with that announcement. But what all
(07:02):
goes into that when you are taking a marquee player
like that and deciding the year is complete. How much
of that is player decision? How much of that is
franchise decision, you know? And and just what all? How
did she handle that determination?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well? I think, first and foremost, you know, the the
priority of getting her in position that she could get
out there on the floor and be successful. You know
that that's giving as much time as needed, and that
that's you know, quite frankly, why why there's no timeline
it's just you. You want to make sure that she
she is is physically ready to go, that she's you know,
(07:43):
in a position where not just from a from a
health standpoint and wellness standpoint, but an endurance standpoint at
this point in the year. I mean that that growing
injury was middle of July and now we're we're almost
middle of September. And and for her, the work that
she's put in, I mean, you know, I'm I'm not
gonna speak for Caitlin, but but as a former athlete
who's gone through injury, you know, it's it's it's tough,
(08:05):
and it's in frustrating any time that you feel like
you're not in a position that you want to be
in in spite of putting in all the work that
it takes. And so you know, it's it's a collaborative decision.
It's lots of conversations. You know, we knew, we knew
that this that this road trip and being able to
see if we could get her on the floor and
get get contact on the floor was going to be important,
(08:27):
and and really wanted to make sure that we were
giving every opportunity for her to be back. And and
and then you know, coming back and just seeing that
that we hadn't made the progress that we'd hoped, and
thinking about what kind of game shape she would need
to be in at this point in the season, and
and also how teams play her. I mean, they play
(08:48):
Caitlin Clark differently than they play anyone else. Ninety four
feet level of physicality, the endurance that's necessary, uh to
be able to to play quite honestly, playoff basketball, because
that's what every game right now. So it was a collective,
collective conversations, collective decisions, and ultimately, yes it's frustrating, she
wants to be out there on the floor, and yes
(09:09):
it's frustrating we want her to be out there on
the floor, but again, our priority has always been her
long term health and wellness and we don't want to
sacrifice that.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You dealt with injury as a player, and you're obviously
a competitor, do you now, and Caitlin Clark has not,
to my knowledge at least certainly in Iowa, had this
level of an injury that is lingered. Do you tutor
her a little bit or lean does she lean on
you in terms of understanding the emotional aspect and the
psychology that goes with being an elite athlete going through injury.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I think she's got great resources myself. You know, Bree January, Kareema,
Christmas Kelly on our staff, you know, all of which
have gone through multiple injuries in season, out of season,
have gone through what it takes to rehab, the frustrations
of being injured, the isolation of being injured, and the
(10:01):
work that it takes to come back. I mean, so
I think she's got great resources that we're available to her.
She's also got other resources around her that she's able
to utilize. You know, I think the biggest thing is
frustration and disappointment and then making sure you channel that
to the rehab and to the strength and conditioning into
all the things that it takes to put yourself in
(10:21):
position that when we come back in twenty twenty six,
we're one hundred percent healthy, ready to go.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Okay, lastly, coach, and then we'll let you go. I
appreciate the time you talk about resources. This week, the
groundbreaking seventy eight million dollar sports performance dedicated specifically to
the fever. I've seen the Pacers facilities, so I know
how awesome it is. And now to have one that
is catered towards you know, specifically a women's basketball team
that will be how big for you and in what way?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Oh, it's huge? I mean number one. As someone who
has been a part of this organization in various forms
since the beginning, it was an emotional day. The vision,
the belief, the commitment that the Simon family has made
to this organization from day one to now when it's
(11:08):
going to another level is just incredible. These women deserve it.
They're the best in the world. They deserve to have
the best in the world at their fingertips. And you know,
dedicated space that not just for athletes but directly relegated
to female athletes and the needs of female athletes is huge.
And I think it continues to show that the Simon
(11:29):
family and our partners are want to be leaders in
women's sports and leaders in women's sports movement. I think
it's going to help us from a free agency standpoint.
It's going to reward you know, our past players, our
present players with the space that they deserve, and the
future players that we have that are coming into going
to come into the Indiana fr organization understand how important
(11:51):
and what a priority their health and wellness is.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Fever and Action tonight seven thirty pre game seven fifteen,
Eddie Garritton, We'll have it. It is the Fever and
the Chicago Sky. Stephanie White, the head coach on a
busy week for Indiana. Certainly appreciate a coach, all right,
Thanks you, Stephanie White joining us on the program.
Joining us now. And you know what, Eddie, we completely
dropped the ball here when when we booked and scheduled
for coach Stephanie White to come on because it's not
right at the top of the segment, we can't do
our typical musical bed intro. And I actually, and maybe
this was this was actually the sports radio GUIDs looking
(00:22):
down upon us because Coach White had requested Taylor Swift.
And then she's really no, no Swifty intro, right, no
Swift intro, but she joins us nonetheless. Uh, Stephanie, I apologize.
I didn't think about the fact that we're not coming
right out of a break and we don't have Taylor
for you. Sorry, we lost you there for a second.
Now go ahead.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm a conspiracy right now.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well listen my apologies. What we will get. I've got
nothing against Taylor Swift. Now, are you a Taylor Swift
fan per se or is it just because she's been
in the news.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, I let me tell this Swift fan. Tell my
kids when, especially when they were young, we would seeing
Taylor Swift in the kitchen all day long. So yeah,
Taylor Swift fan. But yes, of course she's been in
the news. So we've got to send out a congratulations, right, Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Fair enough. Was Kaitlyn Clark okay, when the Travis Kelcey
engagement came out. We know she's a big Taylor Swift fan.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
She was, she was definitely celebrating, Okay, big Chiefs fan.
So I mean, what more could she ask for?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Actually? Yes, because not And for those that don't know,
Kaitlin Clark has been a Chief fan I believe growing
up because of her, you know, in Iowa, that's that's
kind of Chiefs territory. Let's get to that, which is
obviously the elephant in the room, Coach Stephanie White of
the Indiana Fever, and that is the announcement yesterday that
Kaitlyn Clark will miss the remainder of the season. At
(01:42):
the risk of being elementary with this, would this decision
have been the same if, for example, the situation was
different with the rest of your roster and you were
one hundred percent healthy and she was the only missing piece,
et cetera.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, I would have been the same. I mean, you know,
we're we're at that point where you know, we want
to make sure that we are putting Caitlin's long term
health and wellness above everything else, and you know, making
sure that she's one hundred percent healthy and ready before
she returned was the priority. And you know, unfortunately we've
just kind of we've run out of time to get
her ready in the way that she would need to
(02:18):
be ready at this time of year.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Which injury is it that is holding her back?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I mean essentially the original injury in July, the growing
and and you think about you know, with the ankle,
we don't really know because she's been rehabing. Broke both congruently,
so we could have been in the same position. It
certainly slowed the progress. But at the same time, you know,
with with soft tissue injuries and everything else, it's it's
just they're so tricky, you know. And Caitlyn's been doing
(02:49):
her part. I mean, she's been trying incredibly hard in
the weight room, working on the floor, uh, to get
ready because the the intent was for her to return,
and we've just we've just unfortunately run out of run
out of runway.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
You know, I look at it. Stephanie White is our guest,
the head coach of the Fever, and coach I look
at it, and you tell me if there's an element
of this that is true. I know that you're disappointed
for Caitlyn Clark. I know that Kaitlyn Clark's disappointed. I
know that you're disappointed for the fans, and I know
the fans are disappointed. But I also feel a disappointment
(03:21):
for the rest of the roster because I think this
is a year where you have players that have been
put in some of the most unusual circumstances that you
could see, and yet they have stayed the course and
it is owed to them to give them the best
opportunity to win games and get into the postseason and
(03:42):
win with it. What has been kind of the mental,
I guess approach of your roster with all that has
gone on.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, you know what, I've given these these women. I
give them a lot of credit. Now, first and foremost,
they're great human beings, and so their ability to want
empathize with their teammates, but at the same time understand
that that that this is an opportunity for other teammates,
and and to to be flexible, to be resilient. I
(04:12):
mean all of these things, and I think that the
mindset of the team and the mentality of this team
is to do whatever it takes. And you know, we
we spoke so much early in the season about the
depth of our roster and how it's gonna be hard
for everybody to play and and what it looks like.
And because of the depth of our roster, we're still
in a situation where where we're fighting to get into
the playoffs in spite of everything that we've gone through,
(04:34):
and we've got you know, five players that we've we've
lost to now season ending injuries for which started at
various points in the season, and uh, and for our
team to just continue to put one foot in front
of the other, to continue to elevate the way that
they've played and elevate one another and position ourselves to be,
you know, right in the hunt where we are. I
(04:55):
think it's it's it's an incredible it's an incredible testament
to to their mindset, their tough if, their resilience, their
ability to bounce back. There have been ability to handle
disappointments and then fuel it in ways that that you're
able to create positive, positive outcomes.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
When you look at and I know there's basketball to
be played this year, coach. Okay, so I don't mean
it that way, but when you look at next year
when you're you're getting ready with a full roster of health. Okay,
do you look at the challenges this year as something
that will most benefit you in terms of just minutes
experience for your depth or is it more so psychological
(05:35):
experience and the mental advantage that can come with the
adversity they had to fight through this year.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I think both, uh, you know, and when I when
I think about really the cultural roots that are that
are that are being grown and established and you know,
anchored in for lack of a better term, it's just
I think it's gonna it's gonna pay dividends for for
this group down the road in the future. I mean,
there's no substitute for experience and the experience that this
(06:03):
group has had of constantly taking hits and disappointments and
frustrations and being able to weather the storm regardless. The
foundation is being built so where we're going to be
able to handle those moments, continue to handle those moments
in games, and we're gonna be able to understand what
we have to do to push through tough moments in games,
and we're going to have now had that experience throughout
(06:25):
the course of this season to understand and quite frankly,
you know, be humbled enough to know how important every
moment is. And I think it's going to pay dividends,
you know, down the road and in the future for
this group.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
The Fever are in action tonight against the Chicago's guys
seven thirty at the field House. Pregame at seven fifteen,
No Angel Reach for Chicago tonight. Coach, I wanted you
to if you could kind of expand on this, and
that is the decision with Caitlin Clark yesterday. I mean
that announcement, and obviously I realize you guys were aware
that will probably well with that announcement. But what all
(07:02):
goes into that when you are taking a marquee player
like that and deciding the year is complete. How much
of that is player decision? How much of that is
franchise decision, you know? And and just what all? How
did she handle that determination?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well? I think, first and foremost, you know, the the
priority of getting her in position that she could get
out there on the floor and be successful. You know
that that's giving as much time as needed, and that
that's you know, quite frankly, why why there's no timeline
it's just you. You want to make sure that she
she is is physically ready to go, that she's you know,
(07:43):
in a position where not just from a from a
health standpoint and wellness standpoint, but an endurance standpoint at
this point in the year. I mean that that growing
injury was middle of July and now we're we're almost
middle of September. And and for her, the work that
she's put in, I mean, you know, I'm I'm not
gonna speak for Caitlin, but but as a former athlete
who's gone through injury, you know, it's it's it's tough,
(08:05):
and it's in frustrating any time that you feel like
you're not in a position that you want to be
in in spite of putting in all the work that
it takes. And so you know, it's it's a collaborative decision.
It's lots of conversations. You know, we knew, we knew
that this that this road trip and being able to
see if we could get her on the floor and
get get contact on the floor was going to be important,
(08:27):
and and really wanted to make sure that we were
giving every opportunity for her to be back. And and
and then you know, coming back and just seeing that
that we hadn't made the progress that we'd hoped, and
thinking about what kind of game shape she would need
to be in at this point in the season, and
and also how teams play her. I mean, they play
(08:48):
Caitlin Clark differently than they play anyone else. Ninety four
feet level of physicality, the endurance that's necessary, uh to
be able to to play quite honestly, playoff basketball, because
that's what every game right now. So it was a collective,
collective conversations, collective decisions, and ultimately, yes it's frustrating, she
wants to be out there on the floor, and yes
(09:09):
it's frustrating we want her to be out there on
the floor, but again, our priority has always been her
long term health and wellness and we don't want to
sacrifice that.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You dealt with injury as a player, and you're obviously
a competitor, do you now, and Caitlin Clark has not,
to my knowledge at least certainly in Iowa, had this
level of an injury that is lingered. Do you tutor
her a little bit or lean does she lean on
you in terms of understanding the emotional aspect and the
psychology that goes with being an elite athlete going through injury.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I think she's got great resources myself. You know, Bree January, Kareema,
Christmas Kelly on our staff, you know, all of which
have gone through multiple injuries in season, out of season,
have gone through what it takes to rehab, the frustrations
of being injured, the isolation of being injured, and the
(10:01):
work that it takes to come back. I mean, so
I think she's got great resources that we're available to her.
She's also got other resources around her that she's able
to utilize. You know, I think the biggest thing is
frustration and disappointment and then making sure you channel that
to the rehab and to the strength and conditioning into
all the things that it takes to put yourself in
(10:21):
position that when we come back in twenty twenty six,
we're one hundred percent healthy, ready to go.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Okay, lastly, coach, and then we'll let you go. I
appreciate the time you talk about resources. This week, the
groundbreaking seventy eight million dollar sports performance dedicated specifically to
the fever. I've seen the Pacers facilities, so I know
how awesome it is. And now to have one that
is catered towards you know, specifically a women's basketball team
that will be how big for you and in what way?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Oh, it's huge? I mean number one. As someone who
has been a part of this organization in various forms
since the beginning, it was an emotional day. The vision,
the belief, the commitment that the Simon family has made
to this organization from day one to now when it's
(11:08):
going to another level is just incredible. These women deserve it.
They're the best in the world. They deserve to have
the best in the world at their fingertips. And you know,
dedicated space that not just for athletes but directly relegated
to female athletes and the needs of female athletes is huge.
And I think it continues to show that the Simon
(11:29):
family and our partners are want to be leaders in
women's sports and leaders in women's sports movement. I think
it's going to help us from a free agency standpoint.
It's going to reward you know, our past players, our
present players with the space that they deserve, and the
future players that we have that are coming into going
to come into the Indiana fr organization understand how important
(11:51):
and what a priority their health and wellness is.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Fever and Action tonight seven thirty pre game seven fifteen,
Eddie Garritton, We'll have it. It is the Fever and
the Chicago Sky. Stephanie White, the head coach on a
busy week for Indiana. Certainly appreciate a coach, all right,
Thanks you, Stephanie White joining us on the program.
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