Despite finishing the season with a record-breaking 115.0 offensive rating, the Indiana Fever couldn’t even make it past the first round of the playoffs. Many were already questioning Stephanie White’s future as the Fever’s head coach as the team continued to underperform defensively. Now, with the Fever firing Amber Cox on Friday, 23 October, while president Kelly Krauskopf stepped down, that question is more relevant than ever.

So when we asked, 166 out of 259 (65%) of our Essentially W newsletter readers who voted agreed that Stephanie White should have been fired as well. 35% of the votes either directly disagreed or chose to give their own insight. One of the biggest complaints our readers had was something the Fever struggled with, and failed to address throughout the 2026 season: Defense.

Defense became a puzzle Stephanie White couldn’t solve

“She can’t make them play defense,” one reader noted.

In 2025, the Fever had an injury-riddled season and played without Caitlin Clark for the majority of the season after she suffered a groin injury in July. Despite that, they made it to the semifinals, so the expectations were high heading into 2026 with Clark returning and the rest of the team being healthy. Unfortunately, the defensive cracks started showing early.

As early as May 19, 2026, Stephanie White was already drawing attention as the team struggled defensively. After starting the season 2-2, teamrankings.com listed the Fever’s defensive efficiency at 1.013.

Those stats were already worrying because the Fever finished the 2025 season with a better defensive efficiency rating of 0.988. Back in May, those stats made the Fever the ninth-ranked defense out of 15 teams, and try as they might, Stephanie White and Co. barely moved the needle as the season progressed.

As the season progressed, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell linked up to set the benchmark of what a duo can achieve in the WNBA. They averaged a historic 47 points per game and shared four Eastern Conference Player of the Month and five Player of the Week honors. Yet, the defense continued hemorrhaging points.

By the time the regular season ended, the Indiana Fever was the worst-rated defense among the eight teams that had qualified for the 2026 WNBA Playoffs at 108.3. So their record-setting 115.0 offensive rating didn’t really turn into an advantage. And it’s not like Stephanie White and her players were unaware of the issues.

“I liked our defense at times. At moments, we did some really good things. Our active level at times was better; our help-side (defense) was better, our first and second rotations, but it’s gotta be more consistent,” Coach White said after defeating the Seattle Storm on May 17.

“We are still fouling too much. We’re having a lot of breakdowns, but at times, we were better. And that is what it is going to take. It (Fever defense) is one percent better every day.”

However, that ‘one percent better every day’ never became a reality.

On May 30, the Portland Fire dominated the Fever as they gave up 100 points in the 100-84 loss. Caitlin Clark addressed the defensive shortcomings after the game.

“Rotations were a little bit slow in every coverage that we really tried. When we switched, they did a great job of exploiting it,” she told reporters, and this became a pattern.

Even as late as August 22, White was pointing out lapses that allowed the New York Liberty to beat the Fever 109-102.

“And then there were lapses, lapses that caused fouls that went to free throws. Lapses that allowed offensive rebounds. Lapses that allowed soft switches into cuts. Lapses on the offensive end where we didn’t move the ball. We didn’t find the right play, didn’t find the right pass,” White said after the game.

Besides citing the defensive lapses, White also addressed that despite being historic, the Fever’s offense wasn’t perfect either. That’s something one of our readers picked up as well.

“Discounting the lack of an understandable defense, there is a lack of making baskets after a brilliant pass. Time and time again, most of the time they miss the ‘bunny baskets’,” wrote our reader.

Ultimately, defensive weakness cost the Fever in the playoffs. The Las Vegas Aces took the initiative in Game 1, outscoring the Fever 62-47 in the first half, and that gap only grew as the Aces scored 24 points vs. the Fever’s 18.

Although the Fever fought back in Game 2, winning 99-89, their margin of victory was only 10 points. In Game 3, the Aces made the adjustments, as the Fever allowed more than 90 points, losing 94-83 and bowing out of the postseason. You can read more about it here.

Maybe that’s what one of our readers said: “She [Stephanie White] had no plan to get by the Aces defense; she needs to go!”

So the question is: Why couldn’t White iron out the team’s defensive flaws despite getting an entire season? A closer look at the roster and lineups gives us more insight.

The complicated situation with the roster

Apart from the defense, readers also cited strategic choices as another reason why Indiana fared worse than last year.

“Bad strategy choices have set the team back time and time again,” wrote one reader, and they had a point.

Stephanie White kept experimenting with lineups. Even in Game 1, the head coach chose a combination of players who didn’t really share the court too often during the regular season. Former college Basketball player Rachel DeMita discussed the coach’s decision on her Courtside Club podcast.

“Mercedes Russell was the first player off the bench today. When in this season has Mercedes Russell been the first sub off the bench? And that’s something that I just don’t understand with this team. How are you still experimenting with things in a three-game series in the first game of the playoffs?” said DeMita.

Although not as frequent, White’s tendency to sub out Caitlin Clark in high-tension moments also raised eyebrows. In the same playoff encounter against the Aces, White pulled Clark just three minutes into the third quarter with the Fever trailing by 14 points.

Clark even had an emotional reaction to getting subbed out, and you can read more about that here.

“She makes way too many bad decisions regarding who plays when. Time to go,” said one of our readers.

Yet, the reason why the head coach struggled to land a consistent lineup also had something to do with how the front office constructed the roster. The Fever’s front office made a lot of moves that didn’t really pan out the way they had hoped.

Raven Johnson saw limited minutes in her rookie season. While she came in clutch during the first two playoff games, with Mitchell and Clark driving the offense, White never really found a consistent role for Johnson to fit in.

Meanwhile, Indiana’s three-point shooting suffered as Sophie Cunningham and Lexie Hull were inconsistent throughout the season. In fact, Hull, who signed a multi-year contract in April 2026, had knocked down 33.7% of her three-pointers, down from her 2024 high of 47.1%. She also averaged 5.2 points per game, which was her lowest since 2023.

Aliyah Boston was the Fever’s biggest defensive asset and part of the big three alongside Clark and Mitchell this season. However, Boston never really had the backup she needed, and the Fever suffered defensively whenever she wasn’t on the floor. The front office had signed Monique Billings to a two-year, $1.6 million contract to fill in that exact gap, but she struggled to find her rhythm.

Billings averaged 6.5 points and 4.8 rebounds, and White ultimately moved her to the bench in August. While Makayla Timpson became a better fit in that role, the fact that Stephanie White was still making such roster moves as late as August was telling.

Like Raven Johnson, Myisha Hines-Allen showed sparks of brilliance when she did get enough minutes, but with the front office’s moves not quite panning out, Stephanie White continued her lineup shuffles.

However, besides these shortcomings, there’s another piece of the puzzle that may play a role in the Fever’s present head coach continuing her stint with the club.

Stephanie White has history with the Fever

Everyone knows White’s current stint with Indiana is not her first. She was the Fever’s head coach during the 2015 and 2016 seasons before Pokey Chatman replaced her. However, what you may not know is that the Fever’s now-former President Kelly Krauskopf played a role in hiring White for both her stints.

Before 2015, White was an assistant coach under Lin Dunn. Following Dunn’s retirement, Krauskopf promoted her to head coach. In 2015, White led the Fever to a 20-14 record, but fared worse in 2016, as Indiana finished 17-17.

Krauskopf once again played a role in helping Amber Cox hire White as head coach after she took the Connecticut Sun to consecutive WNBA Semifinals in 2023 and 2024. Since 2015, White has produced some impressive stats.

Besides putting the highest-rated offense in WNBA history this season, the Fever also finished with the best franchise regular-season record at 28-16 (.636 winning percentage).

However, with both Cox and Krauskopf out of the picture, the decision to retain White will be up to whoever Indiana picks as their new President and GM. Whether that will turn out to be favorable to Stephanie White remains to be seen.

During her exit interview, White didn’t hesitate to say that she would like to continue as the team’s head coach.

“I feel support from the organization, no doubt about that. You know, at the end of the day, it’s their decision whether I return or not. I’d love the opportunity, I love this franchise, I have always felt support from this franchise, and I hope to continue to be the coach,” said White.