The Indiana Fever have hired Christie Sides to serve as their new head coach, our Rachel Galligan reported on Thursday.
Sides has extensive coaching experience, most recently as an assistant under Tanisha Wright for the Atlanta Dream in 2022. Sides worked for the Fever previously under head coach Pokey Chatman for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Between her stint in Indiana and joining the Dream, Sides held the title of associate head coach at the University of Louisiana Monroe.
Sides and Chatman’s partnership extended beyond Indiana, as the two coached together for a combined 12 years at Louisiana State, in Russia and Slovakia, and for six seasons with the Chicago Sky. Following her run in Chicago which included a trip to the WNBA Finals in 2014, Sides joined Northwestern University as an assistant coach. Prior to the 2017 season, she was named associate head coach at the school, before returning to the professional ranks the following year.
Sides enjoyed a successful playing career that included two seasons at Ole Miss and two seasons at Louisiana Tech. Sides helped lead Louisiana Tech to a 61-6 record in her time at the school, including a ticket to the 1999 Final Four. She holds the Tech career record for three-point field goal percentage (.448).
Sides takes over in Indiana for Marianne Stanley (2020-2022) and interim head coach Carlos Knox (2022). Stanley was fired just a handful of games into the 2022 season after failing to make much of a mark in her previous two years with the team. The Fever finished 5-31 in 2022, and will be selecting near or at the top of the draft this coming spring. Indiana already has a plethora of young talent on its roster, and will look to add to that group with its 2023 lottery selection.
Sides tenure with the Fever may be graded by whether or not she can return the team to the playoffs. Previously prolific during the playing career of Tamika Catchings – who led Indiana to the WNBA title in 2012 – the Fever have failed to make the playoffs since 2016, the longest active drought in the league.
