There weren’t many criticisms to make of Caitlin Clark during her historic Rookie of the Year campaign with the Indiana Fever last season, but she did pick up a lot of technical fouls. Her six technicals were tied for the second-most in the league, and she was one away from reaching the regular season suspension limit of seven.
During an appearance on The Bird & Taurasi Show’s alt-cast for the 2025 Women’s NCAA national championship game earlier this month, Clark joked about technical fouls with Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. Taurasi, who announced her retirement in February, led the league in that department nine times during her career, per Across the Timeline.
Taurasi set the over/under for Clark’s technicals in the 2025 season at 4.5, and both she and Bird took the over. Clark, however, said she’ll go under, and claimed that she’s already told new Fever coach Stephanie White that she’ll only get two technicals this summer.
“I was close to getting suspended for our last game and like every front office or your GM tries to get your technicals taken away and they wouldn’t take any of mine away,” Clark said. “I got two for slapping the stanchion of the hoop and then I got another one for accidentally hitting someone in the eye, so half of mine weren’t even me getting to talk to the ref, which was dumb.”
So what does her coach think about all that? White joined Ros Gold-Onwude’s podcast, “Good Follow,” on Wednesday, and said that Clark’s plan to have fewer technicals is a “good goal.”
White also expounded on how she plans to get Clark to toe the line between playing with the passion that makes her so great, and not going overboard. Here are White’s full comments:
“My initial reaction is look, momentum-changing technicals, we can’t have. The unnecessary ones, we can’t have. Having conversations about what it means to show your fire and you don’t want to take any of that away because that’s what makes her special. But to channel some of that in a way that may not hinder our team.
“The margin for error in this league to win a championship is so small. If one technical in a game changes the momentum and causes you to lose it, that’s big. So when we get them, the timeliness of them, the one’s that happen in the heat of the moment, competitive whatever, OK. We’ll live with those. It’s the nagging ones, right? Like getting on the official and continuing to nag and nag and nag. That’s my job. For me, it’s helping her navigate when to do it and when not to, helping her maintain a constructive channel for a lot of that competitive spirit.
“I think it’s important for Caitlin to utilize Tamika Catchings, because Catch was the same way. Often times our greatest strength can be our greatest weakness. That fiery, competitive [nature] is the reason that you’re so successful, but sometimes it can hurt depending upon the timing of it. So I think Catch is a great resource for that to. I think just being honest with her about certain times it’s time to kinda chill or ‘yeah, go ahead,’ or ‘I’ll get this one.’ Having those conversations. You don’t want to stifle the things that make her great, but you also have to take into consideration all of the things that go into the ultimate opportunities for success for your team.”
It’s hard to imagine Clark sticking to her limit of two technicals in a 44-game season, but as long as she doesn’t pick up so many that she gets suspended, it’s the when and the why that’s more important than the actual number.
Beyond the technicals, if White can help Clark “maintain a constructive channel for a lot of that competitive spirit,” that’s going to be great news for the Fever as they try to get into the mix as championship contenders this season.
