Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White has faced heavy criticism since she said that she didn’t believe there was any malicious intent behind Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington’s hard foul on Sophie Cunningham from Saturday.
“Look, it was a hard foul,” the coach said after the game. “It did happen, and I thought it was the right call. One of the things about [Carrington] is that she’s going to play her butt off, man. She’s going to compete. Nobody’s going to go walking in for a layup. I don’t oppose the hard foul, but I also don’t think that she intentionally went for the neck.”
After her comments, many people, including Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, called for White to be fired for what they deemed to be a failure to “defend” Cunningham.
“This isn’t politics; your player got assaulted. Defend your player in the press conference. Be like, ‘Yeah, that was a dirty play; she should’ve hit the showers.’ She acts like she’s the coach of the other team. I don’t care if she’s the best Xs and Os, which she’s not; get her the h*ll out of there. Either defend your players or get lost.”
On Tuesday, ahead of a matchup with the New York Liberty, White addressed the noise surrounding her directly.
“You know, this isn’t necessarily for those people that are in this room,” White said in her pregame presser. “This is more for 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.
Stephanie White with an opening statement that was her entire pregame media session today: pic.twitter.com/mY1BtVTQ2u
— Tony East (@TonyREast) August 11, 2026
“Our players’ success, our players’ health and wellness, our players’ safety is always a top priority for me. One of the things I pride myself on is my relationships with players. For those who have anything to say about the play in the last game, I didn’t see the play in real time.
“I take personally any suggestions that I don’t 100% always have my players’ back. I ride with them 10 toes down all the time. All the time. They know that.”
White made it clear that outside detractors will not tear her group apart, and even called back to former lady Michelle Obama’s famous saying.
“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…
“When they go low, we go high. Love will win. Grace will win. Humility will win. And kindness will win.”
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.