Stephanie White
Stephanie White had been waiting for the moment when women’s basketball would change.
She’s spent three decades at the top of the sport — first as an All-American at Seeger High School in rural Indiana, and then, less than an hour away, as the best player on the championship-winning 1999 Purdue Boilermakers. She was drafted to the Women’s National Basketball Association team the Charlotte Sting (now defunct), and soon returned to the Hoosier State to join the Indiana Fever for its inaugural pro season in 2000. The “W,” as she calls it, has come a long way since then.
“ The league has blown up,” White tells the Scene from Nashville. “ For a long time in the WNBA, we had not had the college fan follow their player to the WNBA and be as invested in their team as they were in college. The momentum has all come together in a way that those of us who have been here since the beginning felt like it should and knew that it eventually would. I feel like, for women’s basketball and women’s sports, it’s been self-sabotage by the [TV] networks because of preconceived notions that people don’t care about it. It’s not true that people don’t care about it, and you can see that in the viewership.”
A recent WNBA bid anchored by big Tennessee name like former Gov. Bill Haslam, WNBA legend Candace Parker and country stars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw made headlines recently. (The league passed on Nashville in favor of Cleveland — for the time being.) Athletes Unlimited, a WNBA-alternative women’s basketball pro league, schose the city for its four-week run, which ended March 2.
Like many pro athletes, White began building experience as a coach as her playing days wound down. Job security can often boil down to wins and losses. Phone calls, offers and contracts fly around as soon as, or even before, a team reaches the off-season, as owners and athletic directors angle for next year’s success. After a few years with the Fever, White came to Vanderbilt in 2016 to lead the women’s basketball program. She sees Tennessee firmly as basketball country.
“ You think about Pat Summitt’s legacy and how much the Lady Vols generated interest in this area,” says White, “what Shea [Ralph] is doing at Vanderbilt, where there’s a renewed interest around the program. You have Louisville not too far away with Jeff Walz — just great basketball communities. Way back in the day, there was an [American Basketball League] team here in Nashville. Fan support for women’s basketball in this area is tremendous.”
Her reasons for making a home here reflect the geographic and cultural equation calculated by many residents. She has lots of family within a few hours’ drive, including an aunt in Nashville. Nashville’s size and popularity bring amenities like trendy restaurants and live entertainment — including lots of music and sports — while maintaining the feeling of a familiar community.
“Our kids are 13, 12 and 11-year-old twins,” says White. “The biggest thing for us is having that stability for them. We like it here, we like our community, and we know the city. I grew up in a small town, so you get that community feel, with access to all of the things that major cities can give you. We love going to new restaurants, going to see the Preds and Nashville SC. My son plays club soccer here — we’re pretty ingrained in the sports and culture community.”
White surprised the WNBA when she left the Connecticut Sun in October, a year before her contract was set to expire. She helped lead the team to the WNBA semifinals in 2024 and took home the league’s Coach of the Year award in 2023. Within weeks, the Indiana Fever announced that White would return to the program for a third time, steering an exciting roster of young stars led by standout shooting guard Caitlin Clark.
At least in part, the decision rested on being a weekly drive, rather than a flight, from her Brentwood home.
