Stephanie White spent the last year working as a basketball analyst. But at her core, she always knew she was a coach.

White remembers having dinner at restaurants on the road after calling games, and she would move the salt and pepper shakers around like they were players. She couldn’t stop drawing up plays, even if spices and condiments were her personnel.

Now, White gets to trade her salt shakers for flesh-and-blood players as she returns to the coaching world, this time as the head coach of the Connecticut Sun.

The Sun are coming off a run to the WNBA Finals, where they lost in four games to the Las Vegas Aces. During the two previous seasons, Connecticut advanced to the semifinals before being eliminated.

“What we want to do is we want to bring a championship here to Connecticut,” White said in her introductory press conference Tuesday. “We have the pieces to do that. We have the mentality to do that. We’re going to put the staff together that puts the best product on the floor and put our players in position to be successful night in and night out.”

🗣 A message from @StephanieWhite: pic.twitter.com/llzKCwp6zU

— Connecticut Sun (@ConnecticutSun) November 21, 2022

White, 45, previously helped the Indiana Fever to a title in 2012 as an assistant coach before she served as the head coach at Vanderbilt from 2016-21. Now she takes over in Connecticut for Curt Miller, who left to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks.

With the Sun, she plans to run a five-out offense using players such as Jonquel Jones and Alyssa Thomas, who can slide into a variety of positions to play a free-flowing attack.

“We want to be a fast-paced, up-tempo, free-flowing offensive team,” White said. “You have a certain structure that can allow players spacing, they can allow them opportunities to be creative.”

But before focusing too much attention on schemes, White is getting to know her players. The coach started reaching out Monday night, she said, and she will chat with each player, fitting the calls into their busy offseason schedules, with many playing overseas.

“I’m looking forward to beginning to build relationships with these players, to letting them know just a little bit about myself, who I am, what my style is, and go from there,” White said.

She will have to work quickly when it comes to building those relationships, and in turn, building a championship team. Jonquel Jones, DeWanna Bonner and Jasmine Thomas all will be free agents at the end of the 2023 season, and Alyssa Thomas’ contract is up the following year.

The coach will have one season to prove to the Sun core that she has what it takes to get them to a championship. Otherwise, if they leave in free agency, the Sun will need to embark on a total rebuild.

Jones in particular is a player White will want to stick around. Not only does she fit the style of positionless basketball White hopes to implement, but she is also the kind of generational talent to build a roster around. Jones won the league MVP in 2021.

White is fully aware of her situation with the Sun ahead of the pivotal 2023 season for the team, and she’s ready to tackle it head on.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” White said. “We need to add a couple of pieces, we need to retool a little bit. We need to prepare because we know our windows are getting shorter and shorter to win a championship.”

Sun president Jen Rizzotti sees similarities between Connecticut and Las Vegas, despite their contrasting personnel and playing styles last season.

Las Vegas made it to the WNBA Finals in 2020, and then the conference semifinals in 2021, before Becky Hammon came in and coached them to a championship in 2022. The 2022 team did not change drastically compared to the previous seasons, but Hammon was able to make the right changes to propel the team forward.

“I wish I could say there was a formula that we could follow that would guarantee us a championship,” Rizzotti said. “You look at Chicago, and they added a big piece in Candace Parker in order to win their first championship. And then you look at Vegas, and they subtracted a big piece when they traded Liz Cambage to create more open flow in their offense. So there’s different ways of accomplishing your goal.

The Aces also went from Bill Lambier to Hammon. Lambier had success with the Aces, but they didn’t get over the hump until Hammon took over. Rizzotti thinks the Sun could do the same thing with White at the helm.

“It’s going to be Stephanie’s job to figure out the actions that put our players in the best positions to be successful,” Rizzotti said.

For the first time in the NWSL's 12-year history, fans can now buy their own goalkeeper jerseys. And while replica goalkeeper jerseys representing all 14 NWSL teams hit the market on Wednesday, some didn't stick around for long. 

Fans across women's soccer have long vocalized their discontent over the position's lack of availability on social media, often comparing the shortcoming to the widespread availability of men’s goalkeeper jerseys. And as the NWSL has grown, so has demand — and not just from those in the stands. 

"To have goalkeeper kits available for fans in the women’s game as they have been for so long in the men’s game is not only a long-awaited move in the right direction, it’s just good business," said Washington Spirit goalie Aubrey Kingsbury in an team press release. "I can’t wait to see fans representing me, Barnie [Barnhart], and Lyza in the stands at Audi!"

just went looking at #nwsl goalkeeper kit stock out of curiosity — Alyssa Naeher's $145 kit already sold out S-XL (league announced GK jerseys on sale 3 hours ago)https://t.co/8bYA7tlwcx

— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) April 17, 2024

Business does, in fact, appear to be booming. Alyssa Naeher’s Chicago Red Stars kit sold out less than three hours after the league's announcement. Jerseys for other keepers like DiDi Haračić, Abby Smith, Michelle Betos, Katelyn Rowland, and Bella Bixby aren’t currently available via the Official NWSL Shop, though blank goalkeeper jerseys can be customized through some individual team sites. Jerseys start at $110 each.

"This should be the benchmark," said Spirit Chief Operations Officer Theresa McDonnell. "The expectation is that all players’ jerseys are available to fans. Keepers are inspiring leaders and mentors with their own unique fan base who want to represent them... I can’t wait to see them all over the city."

Decorated gymnast Simone Biles took to the popular Call Her Daddy podcast this week to open up about her experience at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, revealing she thought she was going to be "banned from America" for her performance.

After Biles botched her vault routine due to a bout of the "twisties," she withdrew from the team final as well as the all-around final in order to focus on her mental health. She later reentered the competition to win bronze in the individual balance beam final.

In her interview with podcast host Alex Cooper, Biles admitted to feeling like she let the entire country down by failing her vault attempt.

"As soon as I landed I was like 'Oh, America hates me. The world is going to hate me. I can only see what they’re saying on Twitter right now,'" she recalled thinking. "I was like, ‘Holy s---, what are they gonna say about me?'"

"I thought I was going to be banned from America," she continued. "That’s what they tell you: Don’t come back if not gold. Gold or bust. Don’t come back."

Widely regarded as the greatest gymnast of all time, Biles has hinted at a desire to join her third Olympic team in Paris, though her participation won't be confirmed until after the gymnastics trials in late June. She holds over 30 medals from the Olympic Games and World Artistic Gymnastics Championships combined, and if qualified, would be a sure favorite heading into this summer’s games.

Caitlin Clark is reportedly close to cementing a hefty endorsement deal with Nike.

The Athletic was the first to break the news Wednesday evening, commenting that the deal would be worth "eight figures" and include her own signature shoe. On Thursday afternoon, the publication tweeted that the deal would top $20 million, according to lead NBA Insider Shams Charania. Both Under Armour and Adidas are said to have also made sizable offers to the college phenom and expected future WNBA star.

The new agreement comes after Clark's previous Nike partnership ended with the conclusion of the college basketball season. She was one of five NCAA athletes to sign an NIL deal with the brand back in October, 2022. 

Considering Clark's overwhelming popularity and Nike's deep pockets, the signing's purported value doesn't exactly come as a shock. New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu’s deal with the brand is reportedly worth $24 million, while NBA rookie and No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama’s deal is rumored to weigh in at $100 million. And in 2003, LeBron James famously earned $90 million off his own Nike deal. 

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Clark’s star power continues to skyrocket, with the NCAA championship averaging 18.9 million viewers and the 2024 WNBA Draft more than doubling its previous viewership record. Following the draft, Fanatics stated that Clark's Indiana Fever jersey — which sold out within an hour — was the top seller for any draft night pick in the company’s history, with droves of unlucky fans now being forced to wait until August to get their hands on some official No. 22 gear.

In Wednesday's Indiana Fever introductory press conference, the unfailingly cool, calm, and collected Clark said that turning pro hasn’t made a huge impact on how she’s conducting her deals.

"If I’m being completely honest, I feel like it doesn’t change a ton from how I lived my life over the course of the last year," she said. "Sponsorships stay the same. The people around me, agents and whatnot, have been able to help me and guide me through the course of the last year. I don’t know if I would be in this moment if it wasn’t for a lot of them."

Former Oklahoma slugger Jocelyn Alo has signed on with Athletes Unlimited and will compete in the AU Pro Softball AUX this June.

The NCAA record holder in career home runs (122), total bases (761), and slugging percentage (.987), Alo was originally drafted by the league in 2022 but opted instead to join the newly debuted Women’s Professional Fastpitch. 

Alo currently plays for independent pro softball team Oklahoma City Spark, with team owner Tina Floyd reportedly on board with her recent AUX signing. AUX games are scheduled for June 10-25, while the Spark's season will kick off June 19th. Alo will play for both. 

Among those joining Alo on the AUX roster are former James Madison ace pitcher Odicci Alexander and former Wichita State standout middle infielder Sydney McKinney.

According to Alo, the decision to play in the Athletes Unlimited league was fueled by her desire to propel women's sports forward as well as provide more exposure to a sport that's given her "so many opportunities."

"Not only to challenge myself more, but just for the growth of the game," Alo said, explaining her reasoning to The Oklahoman. "I genuinely believe that professional softball can be a career for girls."

Joining AUX is also one more step in her plan toward representing Team USA at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

"I’m constantly thinking about how can I do these little things right in these four years to prepare me for the biggest stage of softball," she told The Oklahoman. "I definitely want to play in the Olympics, for sure."

Alo further expressed enthusiasm in the hope that the rise of other women’s sports, like women’s basketball and the NWSL, will push softball’s professional viability even higher.

"We’re seeing the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) get their stuff going, I see the WNBA starting to get hot," she continued. "I feel like the softball community is like, 'All right, it’s our turn and it’s our turn to just demand more.'"