Add The New York Post on Google INDIANAPOLIS — One day after Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith called for Stephanie White’s job, the Fever coach delivered an impassioned statement in which she said she will ride with her players “10 toes down all the time.”
White also denounced “the hate, the fearmongering, the divisiveness” rhetoric around her team during the roughly two-minute speech that she gave in lieu of a typical pregame news conference prior to Tuesday’s game against the Liberty.
White directed her message to “an online community that’s trying to create narratives that simply don’t exist, trying to create a fabrication or distortion of who I am, of what I’m about.”
“Our players’ success, our players’ health and wellness, our player safety is always a top priority for me,” White said. “One of the things I pride myself on is my relationships with players.”
White came under fire for her postgame comment regarding DiJonai Carrington’s hard foul on Sophie Cunningham in Saturday’s 90-86 win against the Sky. At the time, White said Carrington is “gonna play her butt off” and “going to compete and nobody’s gonna go walking in for a layup.”
“I don’t oppose the hard foul,” White continued, “but I also don’t think that she intentionally went for the neck.”
Beckwith took issue with White’s response and suggested, “The Fever need to let Stephanie White go.”
“No solid coach would ever take the side of the opposing team’s player who committed a flagrant foul on one of your own players,” Beckwith posted to X. “Terrible coaching! The Fever need to defend their players.”
White clarified that she didn’t see the play in real time and went straight to the news conference. At the time, she thought the officials made the right call and was thankful Cunningham was OK.
“Was it egregious? Absolutely,” White said Tuesday. “When you have a chance to watch that, over and over and over on replay, you can see that. I didn’t have that in real time.
“I take personally any suggestions that I don’t 100 percent always have my player’s back. I ride with them 10 toes down all the time — all the time,” she continued. “They know that. It’s a shame that we can’t have an opportunity to talk about what great basketball they’re playing because they are f–king playing.
“The reality is with me, I will always lead with love. I will always lead with grace, I will always lead with humility and I will always lead with integrity. Doesn’t mean I’ll always get it right. I’m also human. The hate, the fearmongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that’s trying to hijack our league will not win. It won’t win. We are united, we are connected. We will not be divided. Every day these women put their ass on the line. Every day. When they go low, we go high. Love will win. Grace will win. Humility will win, and kindness will win. I stand by them. I’ll always stand by them. Everybody else can go to hell.”
The Fever have been at the center of controversy numerous times this season. There was a spotlight put on a heated interaction between White and Caitlin Clark on the sideline during a game in May.
A month later, the Fever distanced themselves from a letter 11 Republican Congress members sent to commissioner Cathy Engelbert that demanded accountability for physical play and fouls targeting Clark.
Cunningham’s remarks about trans athletes in an ESPN article published three weeks ago have fueled the latest round of disputes.
After Beckwith’s suggestion that White should be canned, the Fever issued a statement backing their coach.
“Coach White has done a tremendous job leading the Fever and for the second consecutive season has us in great position for a playoff push,” team president Kelly Krauskopf said. “She has kept our team focused and united, all while under the brightest spotlight our team and our league have ever experienced. She has the full support of leadership.”
