Van Horn finds right fit with UA
BY RICK FIRES ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
FAYETTEVILLE — Dave Van Horn knew he was back home Friday when Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles ended a news conference by leading the Razorbacks’ cheer. No one has to teach Van Horn how to call the Hogs. A week-long whirlwind of activity culminated Friday when Van Horn was named the Arkansas baseball coach, replacing Norm DeBriyn. Van Horn leaves Nebraska, where he led the Cornhuskers to a 214-92 record over five years with appearances in the past two College World Series. Van Horn, 41, was introduced in the same room at Bud Walton Arena where DeBriyn announced his retirement June 11 after 33 years at Arkansas. Van Horn played at Arkansas in 1982 and was a graduate assistant under De-Briyn from 1985-88. Van Horn and his wife Karen, a Little Rock native, met while the two were students at Arkansas. Broyles presented Karen with a box of roses and their two girls, Hollan, 8, and Mariel, 4, with Razorbacks dolls. "It still fits," Van Horn said after Broyles handed him a Razorbacks cap. "I left here 14 years ago, but I always wanted to come back. I didn’t know if it was going to be 15 years, 12 or 20 years. I can honestly say when I was on my own working out or running, I thought about my family a lot and coming back to Arkansas. "This is the fifth time I’ve moved my wife in 14 years, and I’m not leaving. This is where I want to retire."
Van Horn’s success as a coach and ties to Arkansas made him the likely choice to replace De-Briyn, and the process of hiring him began almost immediately after Nebraska was eliminated from the College World Series. Broyles placed a courtesy call to Nebraska Athletic Director Bill Byrne the next day asking permission to speak with Van Horn about the Arkansas vacancy. "They asked me, ‘Are you going to offer him the job?’ and I said, "It’s his if he wants it,’ " Broyles said. Had Van Horn turned down the job, it would have next been offered to Tom Pagnozzi, Broyles said. Pagnozzi is a former Razorbacks catcher who played 13 years with the St. Louis Cardinals and supports the program financially. But Arkansas wanted Van Horn and Van Horn wanted Arkansas, even as the pressure built for him to stay at Nebraska. Van Horn said he received about 400 e-mail messages asking him to stay, and he left with a counter offer from Nebraska on the table. "It was in a manila envelope and I didn’t even open it," Van Horn said. "This whole thing wasn’t about the money." Van Horn made $215,000 a year at Nebraska, including a base salary of $140,000. He agreed to a five-year contract at Arkansas that includes a base salary of $160,000 and a higher total package than he made at Nebraska. Van Horn will have to assemble a new staff at Arkansas after one of his Nebraska assistants, Mike Anderson, became his replacement as Cornhuskers coach and the other, Rob Childress, was named associate head coach Friday. Van Horn said Texarkana Junior College Coach Matt Deggs could become the Razorbacks’ next hitting coach. "Matt’s taken the Texarkana program from the middle of the pack to winning two league championships," Van Horn said. "I’m leaning toward him hard. I’m not sure about a pitching coach right now. There’s about 10-15 guys wanting me to talk with them." Van Horn left Arkansas to become the head coach at Texarkana, where he was 214-72 in five seasons. He then coached for one year at Central Missouri State, where he led the team to the NCAA Division II national championship in 1994. Van Horn spent three years at Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La., before he took over the Nebraska program in 1988. Van Horn was named Baseball America’s National Coach of the Year last season, when the Cornhuskers went 50-16 and made the College World Series for the first time. "Look at his accomplishments," Broyles said. "The success he’s had in the past is a direct result of being a good recruiter, a good teacher and a good motivator. When you win as much as he has, you have to have those qualities. You can’t have one or two of them." Van Horn takes over an Arkansas team that was 35-28 last season and advanced to an NCAA super regional against Clemson, which won 2 of 3 against the Razorbacks. "We’ve got to find some more pitchers, especially some lefthanded pitchers," Van Horn said. "We can talk about hitting all we want, but if you can’t get anybody out, you’re not going to win. I think we proved that at Clemson." Van Horn’s record New Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn’s season-by-season records as a college head coach: SEASON SCHOOL RECORD 1989 Texarkana CC 39-18 1990 Texarkana CC 44-14 1991 Texarkana CC 45-12 1992 Texarkana CC 48-10 1993 Texarkana CC 38-18 1994 Central Mo. St. 51-11* 1995 NW State (La.) 37-15 1996 NW State (La.) 34-27 1997 NW State (La.) 35-23 1998 Nebraska 24-20 1999 Nebraska 42@ 2000 Nebraska 51@ 2001 Nebraska 50-16# 2002 Nebraska 47-21# TOTAL 585-249 *NCAA Division II champion @NCAA regional #College World Series Dave Van Horn receives a Razorbacks hat and jersey from Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles after Van Horn was named Arkansas’ baseball coach at a news conference Friday afternoon at Bud Walton Arena.
