Indianapolis — The Indiana Fever hired Stephanie White as head coach on Friday, putting her in charge of a team led by WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark.

White spent the past two seasons as head coach of the Connecticut Sun before parting ways with the team earlier this week.

The former star at Purdue served on the Fever coaching staff from 2011-16, including as head coach for the final two of those seasons. The Fever won the WNBA title in 2012 with White on the staff.

“I am incredibly proud and honored to return home to Indiana and lead the Fever during such a pivotal moment in this franchise’s history, as well as during such an important time throughout women’s athletics,” White said in a statement. “This franchise has and always will be committed to winning and I look forward to working every day to help deliver another WNBA title to the greatest basketball fans in the world.”

White replaces Christie Sides, who led the Fever to a 20-20 record last season and the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2016. The organization announced it was moving on from Sides, who was the head coach for two seasons before being let go last Sunday.

Indiana is the first of seven head coaching vacancies in the league to be filled.

The Fever will return next season with Clark, who was the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year with 19.2 points and 8.4 assists during the regular season, and Aliyah Boston, who were the last two No. 1 picks in the WNBA Draft.

“As we enter this new era of Fever basketball, I am thrilled to welcome Stephanie back to the franchise,” Fever president of basketball operations Kelly Krauskopf said. “Stephanie is a part of the fabric of this franchise, both as a former player and as a member of our championship coaching staff, so I’m quite familiar with her elite basketball IQ and leadership style. I am confident there is no one who better understands our culture or is more equipped to lead our group of players to the next level.”

The Sun finished third this year in the regular season with a 28-12 record, swept Indiana in the first round of the playoffs and lost a five-game semifinal series to Minnesota.

White led the Sun to a franchise-best 27-13 record in her first season and was named 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year, Associated Press Coach of the Year and was selected to coach in the WNBA All-Star Game.

A native of West Lebanon, Indiana — she has a large number of family members still living in the area — White now returns to the franchise of which she has been a part since its inaugural season in 2000. She played four of her five seasons in the WNBA for the Fever.

White is a member of the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame, leading the Boilermakers to the 1999 national championship in 1999. At Seeger High School in her hometown of West Lebanon, White was named USA Today National Player of the Year, a WBCA High School All-American and MVP of the WBCA All-America game.

White was elected to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022, placing her in the company of other Hoosier State legends such as Larry Bird and Bobby Knight.

“Literally, there’s no one better,” Sun assistant coach Briann January, who played for the Fever when White was both the assistant coach and later the head coach, told The Day in a 2023 interview.

“It’s not just her knowledge of the game, it’s the way she leads a team. It’s the way she develops relationships with players. It’s the way she gets her players to play hard for her. It’s the way she values culture (within the team) and positive culture and holds everybody accountable.

“One thing I really respect about her is she’s out here to learn. She’s a continuous learner in life and that’s what makes her so great.”