WNBA's Olympic break allows White to focus on Vandy
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Stephanie White has the perfect calling card as she hits the recruiting trails during the WNBA's Olympic break working on her other job as coach of the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Coaches, players and parents can simply take a look at her fast-paced Indiana Fever.
Those games also are proving a great teaching tool to her new Commodores as White and her coaching staff teach how she wants them playing.
"We're not just talking about it and them having a hard time envisioning it," White told The Associated Press on Friday. "Now they can watch us. This is the goal to how we want to play, and they can see themselves in that system. I think that's really important for a new staff because just talking about we want to do this, hey we want to do that. Talking about it's a lot different than actually implementing it and executing it, so I think that helps."
White has been very busy multi-tasking as coach of two teams since being introduced as Vanderbilt's new coach May 25.
The WNBA season already was underway, and she had to both hire a staff and connect with new players, including six incoming freshmen. She spends mornings and into the afternoon working with the Fever. Then she uses Facetime and Skype to take part in meetings from wherever she's at during the week, and email and video has allowed her to watch summer workouts.
Weekends are for meeting with her Vanderbilt staff in Nashville. Yes, it's been quite the blur, but White credits time management for keeping her schedule under control.
"It's probably much like what I did January through April in working in TV and handling all of those things as well as scouting and preparing for the draft," White said.
White coached her last game with the Fever on July 21 in New York, then she hustled down to Nashville. She also brought a couple things for her new office best not trusted to movers.
Then White hit the recruiting trail along with associate coach Carolyn Peck - her head coach when they won a national title at Purdue - Kelly Komara and Joy Cheek. White credits her staff with understanding her personality and vision for Vanderbilt, trusting them to keep everything running in her physical absence.
If any of the current Commodores have questions, White said the Fever have offered up to share their insights on the head coach to any players wanting to talk on the phone.
The one thing White can't manage yet is when she is in Nashville and on the job full-time for Vanderbilt. Indiana played in the WNBA finals last season only to lose to Minnesota. The Fever currently are five games back of New York in the Eastern Conference, but hoisting that championship trophy in October is on the coach's list of immediate goals.
"I really feel I'll do a disservice to both if I don't stay in the moment, so I just try to stay in the moment, one day, one week at a time," White said.