Why did Haley Cavinder return to Miami? Here's the answer from the star herself.

It’s been 590 days since Haley Cavinder competed in a college basketball game.

After playing a key role for the first Miami team to ever make the Elite Eight, Cavinder – who led the Hurricanes in scoring with 12.2 points per game and made the All-ACC First Team in 2023 – called it quits with one year of eligibility left on the table. She and her twin sister Hanna, who also played for the Canes, had become trendsetters and trailblazers in the NIL space, and parlayed their success in basketball and millions of followers on social media into full-time jobs as entrepreneurs, influencers, models and podcasters. They inked business deals with WWE, Victoria’s Secret, Boost Mobile, Crocs and TurboTax, and appeared at the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Runway.

While her schedule without basketball was jam-packed, Haley Cavinder couldn’t stop thinking about the sport she loved.

“I missed it,” Cavinder told For The Win recently. “I think that’s inevitable to always miss your sport when you walk away from it. But having the what-if – like, what if I took my fifth year? I need to take my fifth year to know that I did it. I just missed it a ton. I’m such a competitive person, so just being able to have that feeling again is something I’m looking forward to.”

On Monday at 11 a.m. ET, Miami takes on Stetson in their season-opener, and Cavinder will play in the first game of her final season of college basketball after more than a year away from the game. Her road returning to the Hurricanes was an unorthodox one, but Miami is happy to have Cavinder – and her 40.4 shooting percentage from 3-point land – back in Coral Gables.

Oh, and Hanna is back too. And together, the Cavinder Twins figure to be crucial pieces in Tricia Cullop’s first season at the helm of the Hurricanes.

“They wanted to come back together… And I was thrilled,” Cullop told For The Win. “They said, ‘Would you take both of us?’ I pulled up the film and I thought I’d be crazy not to. They’re both so skilled, they’re hard workers, and they can – not only score themselves – but set up other people. They set the tone every day.”

A transfer portal detour to TCU

At first, Haley was going to come back to college basketball on her own. Last fall, after just a few months away from the game, Cavinder announced that she was going to play a fifth season and was entering the transfer portal. A former Mountain West Player of the Year at Fresno State who then proved she could play at the major-conference level in the ACC at Miami, Cavinder was highly sought after on the transfer market. Over four combined seasons at Fresno State and Miami, she averaged 16.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game. She’s quick, has a sharp eye for playmaking, and can be an incredibly accurate shooter from behind the arc.

By mid-November, Cavinder announced that she was joining TCU. With transferring while the season was already underway, Cavinder was ineligible to play last season but worked out often with the Horned Frogs.

“When I decided to take my fifth year, it was very quick,” Cavinder says. “I was wanting to come back last season, but I didn’t want to sit out games and it was too late. And I wanted to be close to my family, so Baylor and TCU were my top (choices) just because my parents live in Texas. But then things change and happen quickly.”

What changed was the fact that Haley’s twin sister Hanna had decided to return to college basketball too, announcing her decision to unretire back in April. And just days after Hanna said she was coming back to Miami, Haley decided she was going to return to South Beach as well after chatting with Cullop – who had just been hired to succeed the retired Katie Meier – and Miami assistant Fitzroy Anthony.

“I have a great relationship with them and always have with Coach Fitz, and that’s what kind of led me back to Miami. And, honestly, just playing my fifth year with my twin sister. I think, looking back, if I was older and didn’t choose to do that, I would have a lot of regrets. And that’s just a decision that was very easy, just because I’ve played basketball with my twin my whole life,” Cavinder says. “Hanna was coming back and Miami wanted Hanna. So, then it was like, ‘OK, should I stay at TCU and not play with my twin sister? Or should I go back?’ And that was the decision I had to make. And my twin is my best friend, so I’ll leave it at that.”

Katie Meier exits, Tricia Cullop enters

Without the Cavinders last season, Miami went 19-12 and was left on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. The day before the tournament began, Meier, 56, surprised a lot of folks around women’s basketball when she announced her retirement after coaching the Hurricanes for two decades. When Meier’s seat opened, it was a job that was coveted across the sport. A then-sitting WNBA head coach expressed interest in it, as did several successful mid-major college coaches, including South Florida’s Jose Fernandez.

Ultimately, the gig went to Cullop, who had turned Toledo into a mid-major power, leading the Rockets to 11 postseason appearances in 15 seasons – including an impressive NCAA Tournament win over Iowa State in 2023.

“She’s a winner, she’s amazing, she’s a great coach,” said Syracuse coach Felisha Legette-Jack, who faced Cullop several times in Mid-American Conference clashes. “She did a tremendous job of growing the MAC to newfound heights … This is the perfect job for her.”

“I think she has a great eye with the X’s and O’s of basketball, and just her knowledge and her brain when it comes to applying it on the court is something I’m learning every day,” Cavinder said of her new coach.

While college basketball restarts one final time for the Cavinders, they continue to be in the spotlight as off-the-court celebrities. Hanna recently went viral for a TikTok video in which clapped back at internet trolls making fun of people’s physical appearances.

“I think I’ve learned over the years, the more eyes on you, the more people aren’t going to like you,” Haley Cavinder says. “The more you get wrapped up in the negative, it can be a very long dark tunnel you go down. And I just think that who you look to for advice and approval should be people that know you best, and who you count on and talk to on a daily basis. The more eyes, the more opinions, and you just got to take everything with a grain of salt nowadays.”

Betting on women’s basketball

For a lot of college athletes, access to anonymous criticism and wildly hurtful personal attacks is available in the palm of their hands. In an era where everyone is more online, and legally gambling on sports is more accessible than it’s ever been, some – including NCAA President Charlie Baker – have called for a ban on player prop bets in college sports. Former North Carolina men’s basketball player Armando Bacot said he got messages from angry bettors often last season.

Like Louisville coach Jeff Walz, Cavinder – who says she continues to have equity in the company Betr, the sportsbook that she and Hanna hosted a podcast for – believes that gambling is good for women’s college basketball as the sport continues to grow its audience.

“I think anything good for women’s basketball is a win. I think it just depends on how you go about it,” Cavinder said. “Obviously, the more people following women’s basketball – sports and gambling has always gone hand-in-hand. You see that in every sport.”

While college basketball restarts one final time for the Cavinders, they continue to be in the spotlight as off-the-court celebrities. As Haley suits back up for Miami, she’s trying her best to soak up the good while ignoring all the bad.

“The more eyes on you, the more people aren’t going to like you,” Cavinder says. “The more you get wrapped up in the negative, it can be a very long dark tunnel you go down. And I just think that who you look to for advice and approval should be people that know you best.”

On the court for Miami, Cavinder is surrounding herself with those people as she tries to make the best of her final season on the hardwood.