It was all right there. After trailing by 17 points with less than seven minutes to play, the Indiana Fever had clawed all the way back. A furious 19-3 run against the Dallas Wings put them in position for a miracle win: down one, with the ball, and 12 seconds on the clock. But instead of a storybook ending, what followed was a chaotic collapse of clock management and a final, botched play that left fans with just one person to blame: Head Coach Stephanie White.

The final 12 seconds were a mess. Natasha Howard grabbed the rebound and, for some reason, dribbled upcourt herself, eating up precious time. She finally dumped it to Kelsey Mitchell, who was smothered and couldn’t get a clean look. As Mitchell threw up a contested fadeaway, Coach Stephanie White finally called a timeout, with only 1.7 seconds left. The play out of the timeout was just as frantic. Lexie Hull inbounded to Mitchell in the corner, who was immediately trapped. Her desperation shot hit the top of the backboard. Buzzer. Game over. An 81-80 loss snatched from the jaws of victory, dropped their record to 18–15, and kept them in sixth place on the WNBA standings, amplifying playoff pressure.

But the botched timeout was only part of the story. For critics such as Jason Whitlock, the real issue wasn’t the timeout; it was the lineup on the floor. “I don’t have a problem with Stephanie White not using the reset timeout,” Whitlock said. “My problem is playing a brand-new player (Simms) off the street 13 minutes. White does not appreciate what Lexie Hull provides the Fever.”

This comment hits a raw nerve for Fever fans who feel Hull is consistently undervalued by her coach. Hull, a 2022 first-round pick for the Indiana Fever, has steadily carved out a bigger role since entering the league. In 2023, she averaged 20.6 minutes per game, but it was the 2024 season where she truly broke out—starting 25 games and averaging 7.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.1 steals in 25.8 minutes per game. Most impressively, she ranked fourth in the entire WNBA in three-point percentage, knocking down 46.8% of her shots from deep. While White has publicly praised Hull’s work ethic, her inconsistent minutes have fueled a narrative that her contributions aren’t fully valued.

And that’s what makes the final play so frustrating for fans: the person put in the toughest spot was the one they feel the coach trusts the least. And fans weren’t having any of this.

“Enough is enough”: Fans erupt over Stephanie White’s coaching decisions

The loss immediately ignited a firestorm online, with fans divided on what to be most furious about: the baffling clock management or the questionable player rotations. For some, the focus was squarely on the timeout, as one fan pointed out: “Wait … why did Stephanie White take so long to call that timeout?”

This wasn’t the first time White’s late-game clock management has been scrutinized. In a tight loss to the Sun earlier in the season, a similar failure to call a timely timeout to stop a run was heavily criticized. And while Caitlin Clark playfully booed her coach for a late timeout against the Sky, the team won that game, so it became a funny footnote. This time, they lost, and the failure to stop the clock and draw up a play with more time felt like a self-inflicted wound.

However, many fans agreed with Whitlock’s analysis, seeing the timeout as secondary to the personnel on the floor. One fan, responding to the critique, said: “Exactly that alone cost them the game.” For these fans, the final play wasn’t just a random blunder, it was the direct result of a coach prioritizing a brand-new player over an established one, a decision that put the team in a position to fail. But this wasn’t just about one bad play.

For many, it felt like the breaking point, a feeling captured by one fan who wrote, “White has got to go. Enough is enough.” This sentiment speaks to a season of accumulated frustrations. Fans still point to the baffling decision to move Caitlin Clark off-ball during her return from injury against the Golden State Valkyries—a move that resulted in a stagnant offense and a blowout loss. That incident, like the chaotic final seconds against the Wings, is seen as evidence of a coach who overthinks situations and fails to put her best players in a position to succeed. But let’s be real – that was probably the best for an injured Clark. 

And losing to a team like Dallas, this way, felt like a special kind of failure, a feeling of disbelief and anger that another fan expressed: “Stephanie White needs to go! Fire her a—!!! How the hell do you lose at home to the Wings and without Arike? And you think this team can go to the finals???” Well, the Fever are supposed to be contenders. 

Losing at home is one thing, but losing to a struggling, 8-24 Wings team that was missing one of its best player, Arike Ogunbowale, is seen as a complete catastrophe. It’s the kind of loss that makes a team look like pretenders, not contenders, and fans are placing the blame for that failure squarely on the shoulders of the head coach.