Stephanie White, the new head coach of the Caitlin Clark staff in 2025, may take over the team’s management and get the most out of an up-and-coming team that even includes Aliyah Boston, a two-time WNBA All-Star, as well.
The Fever demonstrated their willingness to take bold actions in order to capitalize on Clark’s long-standing recognition by hiring White in an season full of significant leadership moves. After the company fired Christie Sides, White, a former Connecticut Sun manager and a Oxford story, joined Indiana. Sides led the team to its first playoff appearance since 2016, but Sides led the team to its first postseason appearance since 2016.
Across the WNBA, different businesses have acted with identical intensity, leading to rapid turnover at period there are more ears than ever on women’s sports.

Seven teams—Atlanta, Indiana, Los Angeles, Connecticut, Washington, Dallas and Chicago—parted way with head instructors this season. More than half of the 12 league members may have a new voice in charge of their bag rooms. That’s a significant improvement over the previous winter, when just two coaching adjustments were made.
” People are taking it more seriously”, Unequaled leader Alex Bazzell, who is married to Minnesota Lynx sun Napheesa Collier, said in an exam. ” They’re treating it like a skilled sporting club. These entrepreneurs want to succeed, and they want the best mentors and tools. These powerful people want to compete for the top and become successful.
In the highly competitive professional sports environment, it’s not unusual for mentors to be fired after or even in the midst of subpar seasons. But there’s a change happening for the 27-year-old WNBA amid growing symptoms and new expectations. The team’s busiest season management gondola has been caused by a number of factors, including changes to the general manager positions in Indiana, Washington, Dallas, and Las Vegas ( as well as a brand-new lineup of faces joining the Golden State Valkyries ).
In the last month’s WNBA document, all five teams that placed in the top seven have undergone changes to the head instructor position.
Former Connecticut Sun general director Chris Sienko, who helped the Sun become the first successful company in the WNBA, said in an interview that “losing groups have to find a way to get in an ever-evolving club.” ” Also, with the influx of dollars coming from media, teams are looking to enhance the quality of coach for their organization. … We’re in unchartered waters”.
The collective bargaining agreement is arguably the main catalyst, as it’s set to expire after the 2025 season. The players ‘ union made the decision to leave the current arrangement. More than 60 players, including Kelsey Plum of the Las Vegas Aces and two-time Fever All-Star Kelsey Mitchell, are hitting free agency.
After a successful year of unprecedented growth across brand partnerships, media deals, and franchise valuations, many agents advised veterans against signing long-term contracts.

The league’s evolution and the increased accountability that team owners are anticipating are reflected in the slew of firings at the coaches and general managers positions. The shift in thinking comes with three expansion franchises ( Toronto, Golden State, Portland ) coming on board over the next two years. With the new CBA agreement’s potential reduction in the hard salary cap, less wealthy and frugal owners are expected to put more pressure on them to invest in infrastructure and roster payroll.
Due to the rapid expansion of the front office, the next agreement is anticipated to give general managers and decision-makers regarding player personnel more flexibility.
” With the new CBA in place in 2026, there’s going to be more strategy and nuance required to build out and manage WNBA rosters”, said agent and founder of Disrupt The Game, Allison Galer, in an interview. ” So teams making moves to ensure they have the right personnel, in the front office as GM and on the court as head coach, is now, more than ever, of the utmost importance”.
The turnover is a sign of a hiring process that is already underway as the world’s top players begin to emerge over the next two years. Among the standouts performing in this free agency class are WNBA All-Stars Plum and Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun. Their team choices will be based on both the best coaching, front office vision, and resource options, not only on salary but also on the best coaching.
This is why the facility arms race has been a topic of conversation. Teams like Phoenix and Las Vegas have invested in standalone facilities, whereas their own players have criticized others like the Sun for lacking in infrastructure. The Sky, who are planning to construct a$ 38 million performance center, announced last week that they had hired former Aces assistant Tyler Marsh to take over from Teresa Weatherspoon, who had only been in the job for 11 months.
” It’s a business now”, said former ESPN executive and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame board member Carol Stiff in an interview. ” There’s money to be made, so teams need to win now. There’s accountability”.
The lottery teams are also making the leadership changes as a star-studded 2025 draft class, which will include UConn stars Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd. This past season was a proof of concept about how dynamic and marketable rookie stars can quickly change the trajectory of a team’s future both on and off the court, despite perhaps lacking the firepower of the 2024 class highlighted by Clark and Reese.
Before taking a similar position with the Aces, Marsh, who was an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, is tasked with developing the team around league rebound leader Angel Reese and former South Carolina star Kamilla Cardoso.
The Sky’s agreement is expected to lead to a trend of former NBA assistants receiving top salaries to stay in the workforce or leave the organization. Importantly, the league’s$ 2.2 billion media rights agreement is anticipated to result in more money for coaching staffs. Only Phoenix and Las Vegas were the only teams to offer at least$ 1 million to their coaches, but this may change as wages rise and the number of qualified W.C. coaches rise.
” Everyone in the WNBA is having to level up, whether on the agency side or the team side, both business and basketball”, Galer added. ” Progress comes at a price, and the business side’s exponential growth comes with significant change on the basketball side.”