Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White, Boilermaker Hall of Famer, to headline Presidential Lecture Series event

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University alumna and new Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White, a Boilermaker legend who guided her team to an NCAA basketball championship in 1999, will return to campus Feb. 11 for a Presidential Lecture Series conversation with Purdue President Mung Chiang.

White, who graduated from Purdue with a bachelor’s degree in communication, was selected as head coach of the Indiana Fever in November, leading superstar Caitlin Clark and a team that likely will garner more attention than any team in WNBA history.

White’s Presidential Lecture appearance, titled “A Boilermaker Legend: On and Off the Court,” is at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, in Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse. The event is free and open to the public, but a general admission ticket will be required.

“Stephanie White defined excellence at scale as a student and Hall of Fame athlete, guiding the Boilermakers to an NCAA championship in 1999. And she has taken her amazing athletic and leadership talents to the next level, achieving success as a player and coach in the WNBA,” Chiang said. “We’re excited she’s back home again in Indiana, once again coaching the Fever, and is able to join us as a special guest through Purdue’s Presidential Lecture Series.”

An iconic figure in the history of Indiana women’s basketball known for her skill, grit, poise and knowledge of the game, White has a combined 17 seasons of experience as a player and coach in the WNBA.

Heading into the 2025 season, White is returning as head coach to an Indiana Fever franchise where she spent six seasons on the sidelines. As head coach in 2015 and 2016, her Fever teams compiled a 37-31 overall record and were 6-6 in the playoffs. As an assistant coach from 2011-14, White helped lead Indiana to its first WNBA championship in 2012.

The past two seasons, White was head coach of the Connecticut Sun, where she guided the team to consecutive playoff semifinals appearances and posted a record of 55-25. In 2023, she was named WNBA Coach of the Year and the Associated Press Coach of the Year, as well as being named a head coach of the WNBA All-Star Game.

She played the bulk of her WNBA career with the Fever, which acquired her ahead of its inaugural season in 2000. She sits in the top 20 in franchise history in games played (112), assists (225), steals (115) and 3-point field goals made (92).

During her stellar collegiate career, White played four seasons for Purdue, leading the Boilermakers as a senior captain and All-American to the 1999 NCAA championship while also picking up Big Ten Conference Player of the Year and Wade Trophy honors. Donning the old gold and black, the 5-foot-10 shooting guard amassed 2,182 points and never missed a game, starting all 127 of the Boilermakers’ contests and averaging 34.6 minutes played.

White’s popularity pushed Purdue’s season attendance average from 4,664 the year before she arrived to 9,681 her senior season — then a program record. White was inducted into the Leroy Keyes Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006 and was a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

White was drafted by the Charlotte Sting (second round, No. 21 overall), where she played her rookie season. In all, she played five WNBA seasons between 1999-04, capping her career with the Fever as one of the club’s top playmakers. Her 93% free-throw shooting in 2003 remains a Fever record. She was named to the Fever’s All-Decade Team announced in 2009.

White also has been head coach at Vanderbilt University (2016-21); an assistant coach for the WNBA’s Chicago Sky (2007-10); and an assistant coach at the collegiate level at Toledo (2005-07), Kansas State (2004-05) and Ball State (2003-04).

Beginning her basketball career at tiny Seeger Memorial High School, the West Lebanon native set standards for basketball excellence while becoming an Indiana icon. White averaged 36.9 points and 13.1 rebounds per game while being named Indiana Miss Basketball and the 1995 national high school player of the year by Gatorade and USA Today.

About the Presidential Lecture Series

Launched in 2014 by then-Purdue President Mitch Daniels and continued by President Mung Chiang, the Presidential Lecture Series exposes Purdue students and the broader community to inspiring ideas, courageous leadership, and models of civic engagement and civil discourse. The Presidential Lecture Series has had over 40 guests of many viewpoints and perspectives and hosted some of the great intellectual, business and civic leaders of our time. As one of the world’s premier centers of scholarly leadership, Purdue is — appropriately and necessarily — a regular venue for great thinkers across a wide variety of disciplines.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research university leading with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities in the United States, Purdue discovers, disseminates and deploys knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 107,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 58,000 at our main campus in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its comprehensive urban expansion, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.