IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Fever head coach Stephanie White is firing back at calls for her to be fired.
Over the weekend, White found herself in hot water after she defended Chicago Sky’s DiJonai Carrington after Carrington committed a hard foul on Sophie Cunningham.
Media personalities including Barstool’s Dave Portnoy have called for White to be fired over her comments.
“Fire her a– today. I don’t want her back on that bench. Stop defending the other players.”
“Oh, she plays hard, DJ. That’s just her being her. You see Caitlin in the press conference almost cover her ears and her eyes.””Defend your players. First of all, you’re wrong. It was a dirty play.” “But when do you ever see in like the NBA, a coach not defend their own players?”
Stephanie White has to go. You’re the head coach, defend your players or get lost. pic.twitter.com/cfOCR0JhRk
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) August 10, 2026
On Tuesday, White spoke to the media and delivered a prepared statement responding to everyone who wants her fired. According to White, she didn’t see the replay of Carrington’s foul until after she made her comments, and reiterated that she has Cunningham’s back.
“You know, this isn’t necessarily for those people that are in this room. 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. 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 went straight to a press conference. I thought the play got called right. Thankfully, Sophie’s okay. Was it egregious? Absolutely. When you have a chance to watch that over and over and over on replay, you can see that I didn’t have that 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. It’s a shame that we can’t have an opportunity to talk about what great basketball they’re playing. Because they are f-cking playing.”
White finished her press conference by saying that her locker room would not let outside noise divide her locker room.
“The hate, the fear-mongering, 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.
“Every day, these women put their a– on the line. … I stand by them. I will always stand by them. Everybody else can go to hell.”