The Indiana Fever fired head coach Christie Sides after two seasons. Amidst the various names that are being suggested by the WNBA community, NBA 2KTV personality Rachel DeMita put forward Caitlin Clark’s former Iowa coach Lisa Bluder as a potential replacement.
Rachel DeMita advocates for Caitlin Clark’s former coach Lisa Bluder to lead the Fever [Picture Credit: Getty]
DeMita took to her social media account to suggest Bluder’s name in the conversation. In her post on X, she wrote:
“Someone call Lisa Bluder 👀.”
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Bluder is widely recognized as one of the greatest basketball coaches in college basketball history. She worked as a head coach for 40 years in the college basketball circuit.
From 1984 to 1990, she coached St. Ambrose University, and from 1990 to 2000, she was the head coach of the Drake Bulldogs at Drake University. She had been coaching the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2000 before retiring earlier this year.
Bluder won the Big Ten tournament five times in her career and also won Big Ten Coach of the Year three times. A member of 800-Club, she is also one of the only 10 coaches in college basketball history to have won over 875 games.
However, after 40 years of coaching and voluntarily stepping away from the game, it is highly unlikely that the legendary coach would make her return to the court.
Skip Bayless believes Caitlin Clark “wanted” Fever to fire Christie Sides
The Indiana Fever released a statement after firing head coach Christie Sides. The team said that the main reason behind letting her go was to ‘maximize’ the team’s talent and win a championship.
However, according to NBA analyst Skip Bayless, the decision was not solely taken by the team’s management and the front office. In a post on X, Bayless wrote that Fever star Caitlin Clark had a part to play in getting her head coach fired.
“Indiana Fever management/ownership seems a little whacky, but hard to believe Christie Sides was fired unless Caitlin Clark wanted a change,” Bayless wrote. “This franchise would be fools if it doesn’t let Caitlin choose her next coach or at least bless or veto the choice.”
Sides was hired as the team’s head coach in 2023. Before taking this job, she spent two decades as an assistant coach on various teams, including Chicago Sky and Atlanta Dream.
After she took over the coaching position, the Fever went 13-27 in 2023, the worst record in the Eastern Conference. With Caitlin Clark on the roster, in her second season, Sides led her team to a playoff spot with a 20-20 record. However, the team bounced in the first round of the 2024 playoffs.
