Bird's Eye View with Sue Bird

Guest: Stephanie White

Episode: Building Trust with Caitlin Clark & the CBA Offseason

Date: December 5, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

In this episode, Sue Bird welcomes Stephanie White, head coach of the Indiana Fever and 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year, to discuss building trust with rookie sensation Caitlin Clark, navigating the tumultuous CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) offseason, and her journey through the evolving landscape of women’s basketball as both player and coach. The conversation covers everything from the challenges and nuances of modern WNBA roster building and talent development, to fostering locker room culture amid adversity, and the unique privilege and pressure of leading a young, high-profile team.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. WNBA Offseason: CBA Uncertainty & Planning

[02:26–11:19]

• CBA Six-Week Extension:
  Sue and Stephanie share what it’s like to prepare a team amid labor negotiations and uncertainty about salary structure, roster sizes, and free agency.
  • Sue: “These negotiations move slower than you might think ... Usually the money is what's hanging things up.” (03:17)
• Coaching Impact:
  • Stephanie notes the difficulty of not knowing when or if operations might be paused:
    “It is hard. It's hard to sit and wait not knowing the timing of when things are going to shake out ... we schedule a week ahead and schedule a week in advance. And if it’s going to shut down, then we need to shut everything down.” (08:10)
• Player Evaluation Challenges:
  • No combine or consistent pro days, making talent evaluation more nuanced:
    “We haven’t been able to do that. There haven't been pro days ... no combines in a long time to be able to really evaluate players ... So you've got to take a deeper look. That means going to practices, going to shootarounds, seeing the less obvious things—body language, coachability, how they're working in practice.” (11:59–12:34)

2. The Expansion Era: More Teams, More Spots, New Challenges

[15:10–17:24]

• Expansion’s Double-Edged Sword:
  Stephanie reflects on lessons from past league expansions and stresses the need for both team and roster development:
  “I want to see roster expansion ... There are a lot of players who have potential to play in our league that just don’t have opportunity because there’s not enough spots ... When you’re holding an 11, 12-man roster, you’ve got to have players who can impact right away.” (16:28)

3. Most Promising Aspects & Needed Change in the W

[17:40–19:52]

• Growth & Visibility:
  • Stephanie highlights the WNBA’s new mainstream status and crossover popularity from college stardom.
  • She credits the pandemic “bubble” as a turning point for fan engagement:
    “If you see us once, you’re going to want to come back. And I think that started a little bit of the momentum...” (18:17)
• Call for Less Toxicity & Longer Season:
  • “I’d like to change the toxicity around our league ... I want to continue to look to expand the footprint, to make our season longer ... These women deserve the opportunity to have this as their only job.” (19:01)

4. Coaching Pipeline, Opportunity & Former Players in Leadership

[19:52–29:31]

• Increasing Former Player Involvement:
  • Stephanie argues for acknowledging playing experience as valuable preparation for coaching, and growing pathways for former players into coaching and executive roles.
  • “I think the ownership is on us as head coaches to continue to grow and develop that pipeline ... not just about knowing the game ... You've got to put it all together. You've got to think about the whole as opposed to just the parts.” (21:33)
• Mentorship Lessons:
  • Discusses how legendary coach Lynn Dunn challenged her, fostering deeper strategic thinking:
    “She challenged me to think in different ways and to think about, you know, the contingency. To the contingency. To the contingency. What's the counter to this? What's the counter to that?” (22:00)

5. Transitioning from Player to Coach

[29:31–49:36]

• Adjustment in Perspective:
  • Stephanie likens the move from player to coach as “seeing the game not just from 10,000 feet, but as head coach, from 75,000 feet.” (27:32)
  • Encourages future coaches to study the game from all angles:
    “Watch film, continue to think of the game in different ways... Think about every player when they come out of the game wants to know why am I coming out? Sometimes it’s not about what you did or didn’t do.” (27:32–28:34)
• Her Own Playing Style:
  • White says, with humor, she might not have chosen herself as a player:
    “I didn’t play a lot of defense ... I was a combo athlete ... But I was competitive in everything I did. I hated to lose more than I liked to win.” (41:53–43:09)
• Coaching Found Her:
  • Wanted to be a pilot and studied aviation in college, before coaching found her by accident:
    “I had no idea what I wanted to do ... [Coaching] became like, yeah, this is kind of where I’m meant to be.” (45:26–46:19)

6. Building Culture & Chemistry with a Young Core and Caitlin Clark

[57:15–61:45]

• From Vets to Youth:
  • Moving from a veteran Connecticut Sun team to the young Indiana core required a teaching shift:
    “Instead of those little 40-minute quick sessions, a lot more practice time ... With young players, you’re having to repeat things a lot... There's often a lot of slippage from one day to the next.” (57:15–58:56)
• Establishing Trust:
  • White’s main priority: earn Caitlin Clark’s trust and connect with her as well as Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell.
    “I’m a firm believer that you have to coach and challenge your best players ... [to do that] I needed to earn her trust ... I’m also the same kind of psycho that she is in terms of competitiveness now, it comes out in different ways, but we both just really want to win.” (60:05–61:04)
  • On Caitlin Clark:
    “She’s literally like Taylor Swift 2.0 ... there’s no wasted movement, no wasted reps, no wasted anything ...she’s an elite mind. She sees things two or three passes ahead as well.” (64:18–64:58)

7. Navigating Adversity & Locker Room Leadership

[65:30–68:50]

• Injury-Ridden Season:
  • Indiana’s 2025 season was “quite literally a roller coaster” with injury after injury.
  • White kept the team’s chemistry and focus by honest communication and setting a culture of “We Over Me.”
    “From the first moment that we got there, our very first meeting, it was like, look, we’ve got to find a way to keep the noise outside the building ... Our mantra was we over me.” (65:52–66:15)
• Player Accountability:
  • “When you have really good locker-room culture players—Sid Colson, Sophie Cunningham, Natasha Howard—they kept everyone focused ... [In crisis] we just talked about it. We’ve been dealt a shitty hand, and we got to play it anyway. But the thing I know about this group is that we are going to fight and we are going to claw and we are going to give everything that we have every single day, and we’re not going to allow you to do less than that.”* (67:10–68:50)

8. Playoff Resilience & Looking Forward

[68:50–73:28]

• Proud of the Season:
  • Despite missing key players and ultimately losing to Las Vegas in a tight Game 5, White considers the season a success:
    “We could have very easily imploded right there ... I'm just really proud of our group, the character of who they are, the competitive spirit that they continue to show.” (70:30–72:43)
• Legacy Building:
  • White views 2025 as a “foundational level of what it takes” for her young core to run with in the coming years.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

"She’s literally like Taylor Swift 2.0 ... there’s no wasted movement, no wasted reps, no wasted anything ...she’s an elite mind. She sees things two or three passes ahead as well."
— Stephanie White on Caitlin Clark (64:18–64:58)

"I want to see roster expansion ... There are a lot of players who have potential to play in our league that just don’t have opportunity because there’s not enough spots."
— Stephanie White (16:28)

“As a player, you see the game from, like, 10,000ft. You know, as an assistant coach, you see it from, like, 20, 25,000ft. And as a head coach, you got to see it from 75,000ft. You have to see everything.”
— Stephanie White (27:32)

“We’ve been dealt a shitty hand, and we got to play it anyway. But the thing I know about this group is that we are going to fight and we are going to claw and we are going to give everything that we have every single day, and we’re not going to allow you to do less than that."
— Stephanie White (68:28)

"If you see us once, you’re going to want to come back."
— Stephanie White (18:17)

"You have to coach and challenge your best players ... I needed to earn her trust and I need to be honest. Like, I'm a very honest, transparent coach."
— Stephanie White (61:04)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:26–06:22]: CBA extension, off-season uncertainty
• [08:10–11:19]: Challenges of coaching in limbo, player evaluation
• [15:58–17:24]: Impact and challenges of WNBA expansion
• [21:33–23:22]: Coaching pipeline; mentorship lessons from Lynn Dunn
• [27:32–29:31]: Advice for former players getting into coaching
• [41:53–43:09]: Stephanie describes her playing style: “I was a little bit psycho ... I hated to lose more than I liked to win.”
• [57:15–58:56]: Adjusting from coaching veterans (Connecticut) to youth (Indiana)
• [60:05–61:45]: Building trust with Caitlin Clark and the Fever’s young core
• [65:52–68:50]: Maintaining chemistry and culture amid adversity
• [70:30–72:43]: Final reflections on the playoff run and lessons for the future

Flow and Tone

The conversation is lively, honest, and sometimes humorous, reflecting the mutual respect and camaraderie of the women's basketball community. Both Sue and Stephanie blend candor and warmth with sharp basketball insight, making this episode accessible and engaging both for die-hard fans and listeners new to the sport.

Final Takeaway

Stephanie White’s journey—from small-town Indiana hoops star to Coach of the Year—embodies the evolution of women’s basketball. Her approach—honest, competitive, growth-minded—offers a blueprint for player development, locker room culture, and navigating the spotlight, especially for high-profile young stars like Caitlin Clark. The episode is a masterclass in women’s basketball leadership, resilience, and building a winning culture in the face of adversity.