The next person, or persons, to run the Indiana Fever has to be a new-age whiz, someone who understands Gen Z athletes – and one Gen Z athlete in particular, namely Caitlin Clark – and understands the ways of the cesspool that is the new social media world. The next person, or person, needs to have ridiculously thick skin, someone who is unmoved by public criticism, social media hatred, negative media narratives and even, yes, death threats.
Right…good luck.
Understand, Kelly Krauskopf, the now-former president of the Indiana Fever, didn’t just step down Friday because she wanted to retire (she doesn’t) or because she wanted to walk away after 28 years of good work with the Fever, the Pacers and then the Fever again. While she’s been planning to walk away after just a few years after re-joining the Fever, my sources tell me she was pushed to action by all the madness the next president/GM will have to face.
For Krauskopf, it all started to become about everything other than basketball – dealing with those threats, listening to the vitriol and the hatred, presumably from Caitlin Clark loonies who’ve tainted everything that goes on with this franchise, and even defending the Fever fans from other players who say that Indy is the WNBA’s epicenter of racist comments and inappropriate behavior.
And those threats to her well-being…well, she was hardly the only one. Head coach Stephanie White and assistant coach Briann January, who had the temerity to raise their voices in the direction of Clark, also received chilling feedback from overwrought fans. (They call this coaching, last I checked.) And they’re not alone as targets of the public’s ire.
You heard what Kelsey Mitchell said at her exit meeting.
Well, Krauskopf can relate.
