Why Was Christie Sides Fired? Inside Indiana Fever’s Strategic Coaching Shake-Up
The Indiana Fever shocked everyone when they fired head coach Christie Sides on Sunday. Sides had just spent two years with the franchise, taking them to their first WNBA playoff since 2016. Plus when the call for punishing Sides had just amplified as the Fever didn’t have a great first half in the WNBA, their then-general manager Lin Dunn had opined that “One of the things that really goes into being consistently successful is stability, and I think stability at the top is key.”
Therefore, when Sides was removed from the role it was shocking, especially since Dunn had taken over the role of a senior advisor for the franchise, with Kelly Krauskopf taking the role of a general manager. However, a statement from Krauskopf is the answer to Sides’ failure to retain her position.
Christie Sides fired to accomplish more
“While decisions like these are never easy, it is also imperative that we remain bold and assertive in the pursuit of our goals, which includes maximizing our talent and bringing another WNBA championship back to Indiana,” Krauskopf stated. The Indiana Fever won their first and only WNBA Championship title in 2012. Though, in 2009, they had reached the WNBA Finals, they couldn’t win it after biting the dust by a 3-2 tally in the five games to the Phoenix Mercury.
via Imago
When Dunn was the coach for the franchise in 2012 and helped them win their first title, everyone believed that the Fever would be a great franchise in the coming years. The then general manager Krauskopf was promoted to the President of the franchise. The Fever then again made it to the Finals in 2015 but lost to the Minnesota Lynx. Subsequently, too much experimentation caused the franchise to have poor years until Sides was hired.
While Sides restored some of the lost honor, the management feels that they need a coach who can bring back glory to Indiana. Hence, they fired the 47-year-old to find another coach in their quest for the second title as per Sporting News. As of now, Stephanie White’s name has caused an uproar among fans since she was the head coach for the Fever from 2015 to 2016. As per updates might not continue with the Connecticut Sun from next season onwards. But all these talks do mask Sides’ role.
Was Christie Sides that bad?
If we look into how Indiana made a turnaround in the last two years, and even in the 28th WNBA season after the Olympics break, many would have one answer to the question: Not really. And there’s a reason why. When Sides was given the opportunity to form a successful team in 2022, the Fever were going through their roughest patch. They had a 45-147 record which was one of the worst among all North American major sports teams. Therefore, Sides had to help the franchise recover, the only hope being the number-one picks from the 2023 and 2024 drafts.
The head coach pulled the franchise from a drought of not only playoff contention but even from a losing streak. However, her vision did not match with what the new front office and execs wanted for the Fever. This is especially true given that Caitlin Clark will require a team that is built around her and a coach who lets her control the offense of the game like she did back in Iowa.
So when Sides left the organization, she posted a cryptic message on X, “Leave it better than you found it.✌🏼.” This reflected that Sides had formed a formidable team with Aliyah Boston, Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull, and Katie Lou Samuelson among others. Specifically, Clark’s bond with Mitchell on the court was lauded as the best backcourt among the current WNBA teams.
While she did not get them the championship title, it was a little partial to expect her to get the team one in her initial years. After all, the first 2 years were for the Fever to get out of the hole and Sides did just that.
Now, fans can only wait to find the best possible option for the coach.
