They embraced for about a minute before waving goodbye to their fans and walking off the court arm in arm.
The second-seeded Horned Frogs were fresh off their 58-47 loss to top-seeded Texas on Monday night, ending Van Lith’s long career that has spanned five seasons with three different teams in five Elite Eights.
But no tears rolled down her face on the court.
Those came when TCU got back into the locker room and even at times in the postgame news conference. When Van Lith got choked up, it was from talking about her season at TCU and Campbell, not the loss to Texas.
“He has just breathed life into me, and from a life perspective, he’s taught me a lot of great lessons about how to have healthy relationships, and what it takes to have a healthy relationship, and how much better life can be if you just let people see who you are,” Van Lith said.
Hailey Van Lith embraces her coach after her last collegiate game ❤️ pic.twitter.com/tMvictQfSg
— ESPN (@espn) April 1, 2025
Van Lith arrived at TCU with no expectations about how many wins she’d gain with the Horned Frogs, who were 21-13 in Campbell’s first year last season. Last season, Van Lith’s season also ended in the Elite Eight with LSU — a year filled with adversity for her. She said she just wanted to find herself, find love in basketball and in life again. She said she found that at TCU.
Monday night’s Elite Eight wasn’t her best game. She finished with 17 points, seven turnovers and shot just 3 of 14 from the field, but the legacy she’s left at TCU and in college basketball isn’t tied to just this result.
She said she wanted redemption this season, a place where she felt at home, and to play for a coach who helped her be herself. She got more than she could’ve ever imagined, and at the same time, she impacted an entire program that was rebuilding from the ground up after using walk-ons last season to fill its injury-plagued roster.
“To watch Hailey show up and do her process and her grind and her training habits, it was inspiring to her teammates, it was inspiring to our staff,” Campbell said. “You want to give your best when you see someone approach their craft the way that she does. And that’s been from Day 1.”
When Van Lith left LSU, entering the transfer portal a second time after spending her first three seasons at Louisville, her father, Corey Van Lith, told her that Campbell reached out.
That wasn’t uncommon, though. Van Lith and Campbell have kept in contact since he was an assistant at Oregon and was her primary recruiter out of high school. Despite not choosing the Ducks, they kept in contact throughout their career.
He texted to check on her and consistently reached out to her parents as well. When she left Louisville, Campbell reached out again. He didn’t think he had a shot to sign Van Lith, though.
So, he just gave her advice on her options and what types of schools fit her style. They broke down offensive schemes and more. “He cared about my best interests,” Van Lith ...
