It’s not very often a student leaves Purdue and becomes successful in two different professions. However, that has exactly what former Purdue women’s basketball star Stephanie White has done.

Most people remember White as being the leader of the Purdue Boilermakers when they won the 1999 national championship. The National College Player of the Year graduated later that year with a degree in communications. But she still had a few years of playing hoops in her.

In 1999, White began a five-year WNBA career with the Charlotte Sting before she spent her final four seasons with the Indiana Fever, where she ranks in the top five in games played, 3-point buckets and scoring.

Following her playing years, she began her new profession in coaching. After serving brief periods at Ball State, Kansas State and Toledo, White rose to the WNBA where she will begin her second year as an assistant with the Chicago Sky.

“I think being a player makes you better as a coach,” she said. “You can draw on those things that you experienced as a player. I know what the players are going through, and that should help me be a better coach.”

Not only has she established herself as an accomplished coach, but she is now utilizing her communication skills as an analyst for the Big Ten Network, which debuted in August 2007.

White works as a studio analyst and as a color commentator during the women’s basketball season. She had seen former coaches and players make the transition from the hardwood to the television studio and thought she would give it a try.

“I often wondered if it was something I would enjoy,” she said. “The studio work is harder than I would have thought, but the games are more comfortable because you go with the flow of the game. But I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Her enjoyment in her careers as a coach and as an analyst couldn’t have come without a lot of hard work, both on the court and in the classroom. She said her current successes in both professions stem from her time at Purdue.

White experienced a lot of adversity while playing basketball, however, she stated “To be able to win a national championship in the end was a great experience. The people I played with and the adversity we went through are going to be foremost in my mind because those are the things I take in everyday life. You learn a lot of things thru the game of basketball.”

With what she experienced as an All-American athlete and one of the top academic students at Purdue, she knows just how fortunate she is;

“Purdue gives you the best of both worlds: a top-notch athletic program and a phenomenal education,” she said. “And for me to be able to reach my goals has been amazing. Purdue helped prepare me for these opportunities on a number of levels. Not everybody is that fortunate.”