INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Fever hired Stephanie White Friday as a coach, putting her in charge of a team led by WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark.

White spent the past two seasons as the Connecticut Sun’s head coach before parting ways with the team earlier this week.

The former Purdue star was on the Fever coaching staff from 2011-2016, including as head coach the last two of those seasons. The Fever won the WNBA title in 2012 with White on staff.

“I am incredibly proud and honored to return home to Indiana and lead the Fever at such an important time in the history of this franchise, as well as such an important time in women’s athletics,” White said in a statement . “This franchise is and will always be committed to winning, and I look forward to working every day to deliver another WNBA title to the greatest basketball fans in the world.”

White replaces Christie Sides, who led the Fever to a 20-20 record last season and the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2016. The organization announced that he moving on from Sideswho was the head coach for two seasons before being let go last Sunday.

Indiana is the first of seven head coaching vacancies around the league to be filled.

“As we enter this new era of Fever basketball, I am excited to welcome Stephanie back to the franchise,” said Fever President of Basketball Operations Kelly Krauskopf. “Stephanie is part of the fabric of this franchise, both as a former player and as a member of our championship coaching staff, so I am quite familiar with her elite basketball IQ and leadership style. I am convinced that there is no one who understands our culture better or is better equipped to lead our group of players to the next level.”

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball