INDIANAPOLIS — Stephanie White put her family first when she left Connecticut. indiana fever New director. That also applies to her assistant.
The Fever announced Tuesday that White has hired Austin Kelly and Karima Christmas-Kelly, an experienced coaching couple, as assistants.
From 2023: He was a practice player when she played for the Fever. Now they are married and WNBA coaches.
Kelly comes to Indianapolis after two years as an assistant under White at Connecticut, where he helped run the Sun’s offense. The Sun advanced to the WNBA playoff semifinals every season he and White attended. Connecticut entered the WNBA for the first time after spending several years in college. He served as an assistant coach and director of recruiting at the University of Texas at Arlington from 2021-23 and as director of recruiting at Vanderbilt from 2019-21.
Christmas-Kelly played nine years in the WNBA and began coaching in 2023 when she joined Christie Sides’ Fever staff. She worked at Sides for two years, primarily with security guards. As a player, Christmas-Kelly won a title with the Fever in 2012 when White was an assistant coach.
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Most importantly, Kelly and Christmas-Kelly will be reunited for a full year after the birth of their son Zayn in the summer of 2023. Zayn stayed with Christmas-Kelly in Indianapolis during the 23-24 season and lived with his father. I used to help him during practice and during games.
Kelly and Christmas-Kelly were able to reunite at some point throughout the season, including Connecticut and Indiana’s four games during the regular season, the Olympic break, and the playoffs. But being away from each other was still difficult. Especially since Kelly hasn’t been able to see Zayn in person for a long time.
Now they will be together in Indianapolis for the season. Kelly’s home base in the offseason is Nashville, where White and her partner, Lisa Salters, are raising their four children.
This article originally appeared in the Indianapolis Star. Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White hires husband and wife as assistants
