INDIANAPOLIS — Almost exactly two years ago, Amber Cox and Kelly Krauskopf made their first moves running the Indiana Fever front office. Krauskopf was officially named President of Basketball and Business Operations in late September of 2024 — Cox was hired as general manager about two weeks later. The two made their first change in late October, firing former head coach Christie Sides.
Less than two years have passed, and both Krauskopf and Cox are out of their positions as the Fever enter another transformational offseason.
Krauskopf originally joined Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PS&E) — the corporate identity overseeing the Indiana Pacers, Fever, and other pockets of the organization — back in 2000. She ran the Fever for nearly two decades before taking a front office role with the Pacers. In 2024, the Fever wanted her back to guide the Caitlin Clark era.
“The WNBA and the Fever have always been a part of me, and it is truly a privilege to be asked to return to lead this team at this unprecedented time of the growth in women’s basketball,” she said at the time.
Krauskopf then hired Cox, who was the COO on top of her GM duties. Krauskopf was more big picture, Cox was more day-to-day. “I have known Amber for over 20 years and have watched her successfully build teams both on and off the court,” Krauskopf said of that hire. “I look forward to working with her as we build the Fever franchise into the next era of growth.”
Again, the word era. That was the expectation for the Fever, that building around Clark would lead to something special enough to be referred to in that way. Clark is such a singular and popular star that even without multiple deep playoff runs, this is still considered the Caitlin Clark era. But with such a defining term, results were anticipated.
To follow up the firing of Sides, Cox and Krauskopf hired Stephanie White to be the team’s head coach. Less than two years later, White is still presently in that role. Krauskopf and Cox are gone, with the Fever announcing their departures — albeit in much different manners — on Friday.
At 10 a.m. ET, the Fever announced that Krauskopf would be stepping down from her post. She reached nearly three decades with PS&E, a time period that came to an end less than a month after the Fever finished their 2026 regular season.
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It was during that regular season that Krauskopf informed Fever leadership she would step down once the 2026 campaign ended — more specifically, The IX Sports has learned, those conversations with ownership took place during the World Cup break.
Krauskopf was leading the development of the sports performance center that the Fever are constructing on top of her typical duties as team President. As the noise around the team continued to crescendo, Krauskopf discreetly took down her social media accounts during the season.
“The Fever is poised for an exciting future, and I am proud to have helped lay the foundation for its continued growth and success,” Krauskopf said in a team-issued statement on Friday morning.
Seven hours later, her former front office partner was fired. The IX Sports reported, and the Fever later announced, the departure of Cox from the organization.
Shaking up a front office is part of the business that can be difficult, and the Fever spent the weeks after the season deciding what to do. Now, they’ll embark on what the organization is calling a national search for the team’s next general manager. No similar verbiage about a president role was used in the announcement about Krauskopf’s departure.
“Through her two seasons with the Fever, Amber has helped us navigate the seismic growth of both the WNBA and our franchise. We’re grateful for her contributions and wish her the very best moving forward,” Mel Raines, president and CEO of PS&E, said in a statement on Friday.
The next question will be about White and what happens to her spot on the bench. Several outlets, including ESPN, have reported that she is expected to remain the head coach as of now, but changes in a front office are often followed by coaching staff shakeups.
Just as it did two years ago when Krauskopf and Cox took over — firing Sides before hiring White.
The Fever needed some change. They fell dramatically short of expectations this season, losing in the first round despite having championship aspirations. “We went into this season with the goal of winning a championship. So anything less than that is disappointing,” wing Lexie Hull said. Hull, Clark, and Aliyah Boston attended the Pacers season opener together on Friday after the front office announcements were made.
Ultimately, Cox’s shortcomings came in a variety of ways. Her most obvious successes came via the draft — both Makayla Timpson and Raven Johnson look like useful pieces going forward. Her signings during a desperate, injury-filled time at the end of 2025 all worked out, and those players helped the Fever reach overtime in Game 5 of the semifinals in that postseason. They were five minutes from a trip to the WNBA Finals.
They were also nearly eliminated in the first round that same year, pulling off a five-point comeback in the final 2:06 of Game 3 in their first-round series against the Atlanta Dream. The margins between success and failure were very thin for the 2025 Fever.
They were much thicker in 2026, and there’s where Cox’s struggles showed up. The Fever were much healthier and won 63.6% of their games, the third-best mark in franchise history. The only two better regular seasons ended with trips to the WNBA Finals.
This time, they exited the postseason in the first round. Both of their losses in a 2-1 series defeat against Las Vegas were by double digits — though Game 3 was closer than the final score suggested. Those caveats aren’t important. The results are what matters, and they weren’t good enough as major recent additions watched the final minutes from the bench.
“We know there’s high expectations associated with this team and with this franchise,” Cox said at the end of the season. “Obviously, we fell short of that. We’re disappointed.”
The results weren’t there despite the Fever having three All-Stars and two First Team All-WNBA talents. A better playoff run should have been expected. In the offseason, the three biggest non-star contracts the Fever added in free agency went to Sophie Cunningham ($665k per year), Hull (~$784k per year), and Monique Billings ($800k per year), per Her Hoops Stats.
With 3:43 to go in Game 3 against the Aces and the Fever’s season on life support, White took Billings out of the game for Myisha Hines-Allen. Hines-Allen closed the game alongside Johnson and the Fever’s trio of stars (Cunningham entered with 26.2 seconds to go and the Fever down seven). The three players Cox added that were expected to contribute the most — based on their salaries, at least — in support of the team’s elite talents all sat on the bench.
Cox did not regret her offseason moves. Johnson was a quality pick. Hines-Allen and Tyasha Harris, who got injured in the regular season finale, were good additions. But other moves were puzzling. There wasn’t enough wing depth. The frontcourt pieces never fit and didn’t properly back up Boston. It led to lineup challenges, some of which came from White’s decision making.
The star deals in the most recent offseason went to Kelsey Mitchell, who signed her core supermax offer sheet, and Boston. Mitchell is now an unrestricted free agent capable of choosing her next destination. Boston signed a contract extension via the EPIC provision, and it will pay her the highest possible salary figure in theWNBA across the next three seasons. She’s one of the league’s better players, but it’s a massive contract.
Boston’s deal, combined with big protected salary figures for Billings and Hull, leave the Fever in a difficult salary cap position heading into an offseason during which they will try to retain Mitchell and improve their roster.
Someone else will be the one making those improvements. Cox and Krauskopf won’t be the ones to do it.
Back when Krauskopf was hired, she stressed the importance of finding the right fits around Clark. She had done so with Tamika Catchings and helped the Pacers do it around their star guard in Tyrese Haliburton. It’s a task she’s handled many times.
“Caitlin Clark was 10 years old when we won our first championship,” Krauskopf said in 2024 of the Fever franchise. “I say first because we’re going to have another one at some point.”
In the last two years, the Fever didn’t reach those heights. Someone(s) new will try to get them there.
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
