SAN FRANCISCO — The fallout from DiJonai Carrington’s flagrant foul on Fever guard Sophie Cunningham keeps echoing. In the latest development, Fever coach Stephanie White has become public enemy No. 1 in some corners of Indiana.
Fans booed her during the Fever’s most recent home game. The lieutenant governor called for her firing.
All because White said after the Sky game that she didn’t believe Carrington’s foul was intentional — and made clear that she knows Carrington, whom she coached in Connecticut, as a player who always plays hard and doesn’t give up open layups.
“No solid coach would ever take the side of the opposing team’s player who committed a flagrant foul on one of your own players,” Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith posted on X. “Terrible coaching! The Fever need to defend their players.”
White responded before Tuesday’s game against New York, warning that hate and fearmongering were threatening to hijack the league. She also said she took personally the suggestion that she doesn’t defend her players.
“For those who have anything to say about the play in the last game: I didn’t see the play in real time,” White said. “Thankfully Sophie’s OK. Was it egregious? Absolutely. When you have a chance to watch that over and over on replay, you can see that.”
Sky coach Tyler Marsh, no stranger to scrutiny himself, sympathized with White and the challenge of keeping outside noise from shaping how a coach operates.
“At the end of the day, she’s trying to look out for her players, and every coach can respect that,” Marsh said. “I’m not sure that there’s any two teams in this league as heavily scrutinized as us.”
Despite the Fever’s 21-12 record and White’s previous success with the Sun, she has dealt with loud criticism all season.
Earlier this year, a video of White subbing Caitlin Clark out of a huddle because of her defense went viral. A familiar online conclusion followed: White wasn’t properly grateful for Clark.
Her players, however, don’t appear to share the outrage. Clark said the booing from fans made her sick. Cunningham said White had her back, and even called Carrington a “hell of a player.”
White had another backer Wednesday in one of her former players, Sky guard Rachel Banham.
“She’s such a good person, such a great coach,” Banham said. “She really does love her players. She means that when she says that.
“She coached Nai. She knows exactly how Nai plays. She wasn’t saying that to not defend Sophie by any means. She agreed that it was an ‘egregious’ foul. She loves her Indy girls. She’ll ride for them as hard as she can.
“But she’s still gonna be honest and know that Nai’s trying to throw that thing off the backboard, and she missed, and they called the flagrant, and that’s what it is.”
Carrington said Sunday that her foul on Cunningham was not intentional. She said she had spoken to the league about her post in which she wrote “WHITE PRIVILEGE” and tagged the Fever, which she said went beyond the ejection itself.
She said Wednesday that she had no additional comment on the matter.
Marsh, meanwhile, has continued to support Carrington. Before the Sky’s game against the Valkyries on Wednesday, he said the uproar hasn’t become a distraction in the locker room.
“We rally around her,” he said. “She’s a hard-nosed, passionate player. She cares for her teammates, and her teammates feel the same way about her. We keep it moving as best we can.”
At some point the rest of the world might decide to keep it moving, too.
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