INDIANAPOLIS — Stephanie White prioritized family when she left Connecticut to become the Indiana Fever’s new head coach. That extends to her assistants.
The Fever announced Tuesday that White has hired Austin Kelly and Karima Christmas-Kelly, a married couple with ample coaching experience, as assistants.
From 2023: When she played for Fever, he was a practice player. Now they’re married and WNBA coaches.
Kelly comes to Indianapolis after he was an assistant under White for two years at Connecticut, helping run the Sun’s offense. The Sun made the WNBA playoff semifinals each season he and White were there. Connecticut was his first foray into the WNBA after multiple years in the college ranks — he was an assistant coach and recruiting director at University of Texas-Arlington from 2021-23 and the director of recruiting at Vanderbilt from 2019-21.
Christmas-Kelly played nine years in the WNBA, then got into coaching in 2023 when she joined Christie Sides’ Fever staff. She worked primarily with the guards in her two years under Sides. 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 year-round after having their son, Zayn, in the summer of 2023. Zayn stayed with Christmas-Kelly in Indianapolis for the ’23 and ’24 seasons, with her dad living with her and helping out while she was at practices and games.
Kelly and Christmas-Kelly were able to reunite at some points throughout the season, including the four times Connecticut and Indiana played during the regular season, the Olympic break, and playoffs. But it was still difficult to be away from each other, especially with Kelly not able to see Zayn in-person for long stretches.
Now, they will be together in Indianapolis during the season. The Kellys home base in the offseason is Nashville, where White and her partner, Lisa Salters, raise their four children.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White hires married couple as assistants
