Stephen A. Smith drops a blunt reality check on Indiana Fever Coach Stephanie White. SMITH: "There are folks in Indiana at a home game BOOING YOU! You ain’t the road team. You’re the home team... and they’re booing YOU!" "Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark can speak up for you... all they want to... but that’s not going to be enough. "[You say] ‘We will go high. Love, grace, humility will win.’ And then you tell everybody to ‘go to hell.’ You think that’s going to work for you, Coach White?" “How are you the head coach... and you didn’t see the play? ... It’s your job to... watch the game. How did you not see the play?!” When asked about Dijonai Carrington clotheslining Sophie Cunningham in the face, Coach White claimed: "I didn't see the play in real time. I went straight to a press conference. I thought the play got called right. Thankfully, Sophie's okay. Was it egregious? Absolutely. When you have a chance to watch that over and over and over on replay, you can see that. I didn't have that in real time." Pictures are now surfacing online and contradicting that statement, because she was staring straight at Dijonai Carrington and Sophie Cunningham when the vicious foul happened.show more

And who doesn’t stand up for their own team as the default?!

Dave Portnoy’s response to White is my favorite: "This is your team! Do you want them murdered?! Do you want them killed?! That's what you sound like!"

@YucatanPolk55 That’s better. 😅

@YucatanPolk55 It’s astonishing she thought she could preach a message of kindness while simultaneously telling her critics to “go to hell!” 😄

Smith's full comments on Stephanie White:

I say @IndianaFever do the right thing, FIRE THAT SHITTY COACH OF YOURS. If she's not watching the players play, she's got no business on the court. Invest your money in a coach that has a vested interest in winning, and in keeping the team players safe and playing at their peak levels throughout the season. Michael Murdock, US Navy Veteran, AZ

@stephenasmith

I found one with a green circle!! 😆

@StephanieWhite @AmberLCox @IndianaFever not only did you hire an inept Coach you hired one that lies to the fans and tells them to go to Hell. Replace her. This is her not seeing it in real time.

So basically, here liberal echo chamber did not adequately prepare her for the public heat she was about to catch, but now she's backtracking like the spineless virtue-signaler she really is.

Her stars have been getting beat up like punching bags for weeks and she pretends it was all okay until this one

Falsely claims not to have seen the play, but first instinct was to defend DC. Reminiscent of when she didn’t defend CC after being pinned to the floor by her throat. Screams love, grace & humility, but trumps those with “go to hell.” Can’t wait for the encore.

Do you think the head coach would be looking anywhere else but right at the player currently in possession of the ball? If she *wasn't* looking where the ball was in play, she should just be fired for incompetence.

Her(?) unhinged press conference before the game didn’t do her any favors. Did she really think that was going to help?

Not to mention she was defending Carrington after the game throwing her own players under the bus. Been doing it all season.

It’s called Woke Privilege. It includes no logic and no accountability.

We ALL see you @StephanieWhite and you’re up @IndianaFever. Do the right thing and get this dishonest and nasty liar out and at least pretend to look impartial!

@IndianaFever@WNBA @CathyEngelbert You all need to understand that this is a wakeup call. We the internet, or your income, are demanding changes in coaches, behavior, ethics, and the upper management. 1st time in three decades you're generating revenue. LISTEN or go back!

Bottom line: Had it been one of her black players she would’ve raised hell IMMEDIATELY. A straight white player? Nay plays hard. What’s the problem? F her.

Obviously she's not being genuine and has lost control of the situation

I'm glad he's calling her out, because White is a coach who doesn't defend her players, and then then cries victim when she gets called out for it

Weird how the bitch lied and said she didn’t see the play when she was looking right at it. Deranged white lesbian.

Here she is “not seeing” the play

She would have been fired already but she’s married to a black lesbian….

There is a pic that shows the coach in the background of the photo looking directly at Sophie from across the court as Sophie is assaulted.

How did "it get called right" if you didn't see the play? What a loser.

I like this guy cuz he calls it like he sees it, regardless of pressure. Right on, Stephen A. Smith.

She totally lied because they showed instant replay on the big board.

She saw it! She needs to RESIGN!

Maybe she was playing solitaire?

Stephanie White is LYING - she is a LIAR because Stephanie has NEVER been held accountable

The more she forces the victims to cover for her nasty actions, the worse it gets. People want a fair game, fair coaching and fair officiating. WNBA has delivered none of that. Fans are not going to accept it, no matter how many little pithy sermons you give them. No matter how many times you make the victims kiss your miserable hind end in public. Nothing is going to fix a problem the perpetrators keep pretending doesn't exist but is right in front of our eyes for the world to see.

If White is to be believed, that she did not see the foul, and that Cunningham & other fever players failed to tell White what happened, it is still wrong that White said anything at all to defend Carrington. Carrington does not play for her, White needs to stand up for the players on her team. To hell with her, White does not protect her players.