TCU’s Hailey Van Lith is the modern day NCAA athlete: A Cardinal, Tiger and Horned Frog
What was initially a quaint two-lane road has morphed into a 28-lane super highway where there are on and off ramps every two feet, and everyone drives 95 m.p.h. in a school zone.
For the TCU women’s basketball team, the “Transfer Portal” is a highway to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history; on Sunday, before a sellout crowd that was actually a sellout, the second-seeded TCU Horned Frogs popped seventh-seeded Louisville, 85-70, in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament.
TCU, a team loaded with quality transfers such as Sedona Prince and Hailey Van Lith, will face second-seed Notre Dame in Birmingham, Ala. in the Sweet 16.
The radical, and mostly court-mandated, makeover of NCAA athletics has empowered student athletes to money, and the ability to leave whenever they want, for whatever the reason. Usually money and minutes, in that order.
“The dang portal opens Tuesday,” TCU coach Mark Campbell said. “There will be an incredible amount of talent floating around.”
This constant state of free agency may soon have some guidelines and rules, likely as early as this summer, but how it looks now is not going to change that much. It will remain a mess for coaches, and while it’s good for players there are consequences to this level of freedom.
The death of the four-year player at one university will impact a person’s ability to create and foster relationships within that community, a detail which has become a major point of sale for universities almost more than a degree.
Few people cash in on this like the athlete who played at the same place for four years, and leveraged that visibility into a nice quality of life after their playing career ends.
Few players in this era of college athletics have taken advantage of this new landscape more like Van Lith, who has played at three schools, reached four Elite 8s and one Final Four.
But, like a growing list of college players, what is Hailey Van Lith?
Is she a Louisville Cardinal, where she spent her first three years? Probably not. Her departure created some hurt feelings there.
Is she an LSU Tiger, where she played last season? Definitely not. She never fit on coach Kim Mulkey’s roster, and when Van Lith announced she was leaving no one in Baton Rouge noticed.
Is Van Lith a TCU Horned Frog, where she has led a program to achievements it had never experienced before? She arrived in Fort Worth in the summer of 2024, and will be here less than a year before she moves.
What community says, “She’s ours.”
All of them? Or, none of them?
“Have you been married three or four times?” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said after the game of the transfer player in this era who wants to be linked to one college community forever.
He was Van Lith’s coach during her time at U of L.
“I mean, what’s your relationship with your ex-wife? Really good? I mean, I guess you can; it’s how you leave. That’s part of it as well,” he said. “She had a great career. We took care of her. I don’t care what anybody says. I don’t care what they say. We took care of the kid, and she graduated in three years. Pat her on the back for that.
“It’s an accomplishment. She got a master’s degree, working on more. So I guess you can, but I don’t know too many of them that do. ... I think it’s how you do things if you want to have a chance to have a relationship back at the school that you left, because it’s part of the game.”
Sunday was Van Lith’s first game against her first college team.
She made it a point to say that playing Louisville wasn’t “weird” but rather “nostalgic.”
Which is weird, but in this era of college sports it will become the norm.
“I was there for three years and I almost completed my entire college career there. I grew up with those girls,” she said Sunday. “We made stupid, young kid mistakes together.
“I feel 100 percent connected to that community. I’m still heavily involved with some charities there. All of the managers there are the same ones who rebounded for me at 10 at night. The doctors are there. I have love for them.”
Does the Louisville community feel the love for a player who left early for another place? She won’t know until she tries to go back, if she does.
Does the Oklahoma community feel the love for quarterback Caleb Williams after he transferred to USC, where he won the Heisman Trophy?
Does the Alabama community feel the love for quarterback Jalen Hurts after he transferred to Oklahoma, where he was a Heisman Trophy runner-up?
The answer to the first is not “No” but “Hell no.” The answer to the second is not “Yes” but “Hell yes.”
It all depends on how you leave.
The 28-lane transfer portal is here, and like anything else there are consequences.
Hailey Van Lith, and every player who jumps in the portal for more money or minutes, will find out if they are a Cardinal, Tiger or Horned Frog, or none of the above.
This story was originally published March 23, 2025 at 9:20 PM.
