‘Worst coach ever’: Criticism mounts for Fever coach after ‘atrocious’ treatment of Caitlin Clark

The Indiana Fever lost its second straight game on a Saturday night, 109-102 to the New York Liberty. Although Fever superstar Caitlin Clark finished with respectable numbers, scoring 21 points and dishing out seven assists, she looked uncomfortable and out of sorts at times throughout the game, including a late sequence down the stretch in a one-possession game that resulted in an empty possession.

After the game, Clark didn’t make excuses for Indiana, which is in the midst of a brutal stretch of playing three road games in four days.

“There are no excuses. Yeah, our schedule’s tough, and I think we play more back-to-backs than just about anybody in the league. But it is what it is,” she said during her postgame interview.

“And Chicago’s playing really good basketball. I think for us, you have to look at it in a positive way. We’re coming off of a loss. It’s a great opportunity for us to go and finish this road trip on a win. That’s how I see it. And yeah, everybody’s tired, everybody’s sore, who cares. Figure out a way to make yourself feel better and suit up and go play.”

Is this on coaching?

Fans on social media, however, were plenty willing to make excuses for Clark. In fact, many of them pointed to head coach Stephanie White’s handling of Clark in Saturday’s contest as a major culprit in the loss.

One fan pointed toward a sequence in the first half where Clark missed a deep three-pointer, and White turned to the bench for a substitution as indicative of larger problems with the coach’s handling of her star player.

Terrible leader! Caitlin Clark misses the three & Stephanie White angrily calls for her substitution.

Second straight game she’s done this — I’ve never seen her react this way to Kelsey Mitchell. pic.twitter.com/AYZBZ7NHRX

— HeroOfTheDay (@Hero_OfThe_Day) August 22, 2026

Other fans were just as critical of White.

“Rough situation when the coach hates the league supernova,” one fan posted on X.

“Confidence killer. White is atrocious,” someone else added.

“This is why you see CC hesitate and many times pick up her dribble because she’s worried about this dictator benching her!” another person wrote.

Stephanie White is keeping her head held high

As for White, she’s just thankful she has a strong support system amidst the noise and scrutiny she deals with being Clark’s head coach.

“I think that this season in particular, I’ve really tried to live the message that I try to talk about and lean into the privilege that I have regardless of the circumstance. And I’m just thankful for the village and these players,” she said in her post-game presser.

“I mean, look, these players are really incredible. Like the way that they’re able to minimize the outside noise, the way they will show up for each other and for me, you know, every day.”

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