WholeHogSports
Huskers endure after Van Horn
Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2008
URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/220125/
LINCOLN, Neb. — Mike Anderson spent three forgettable seasons on Nebraska’s baseball coaching staff at a program that won too few games to interest many Cornhuskers fans.
Then Dave Van Horn took over as the head coach and with Anderson as one of his assistants brought Big Red back from the brink. Van Horn eventually left to coach his alma mater Arkansas, Anderson replaced him and Nebraska remains one of the nation’s winningest programs. Anderson and Van Horn reunite in Lincoln today and Wednesday for a twogame nonconference series.
Van Horn has taken his Razorbacks to Nebraska once since taking the Arkansas job: The Razorbacks made the College World Series at Omaha, Neb., in 2004. He received several ovations from the locals that year, and both coaches expect another gracious introduction upon his arrival at Haymarket Park.
“I personally believe our fans will treat him great,” Anderson said, “until the game starts. They’ll cheer for us wholeheartedly. But I guarantee you as soon as that game’s over, they’ll treat him like a king again.”
Coaching royalty at Nebraska can mostly be found on the football field, where first Bob Devaney and then Tom Osborne reigned. Van Horn built his own dynasty in baseball when he replaced longtime Coach John Sanders in 1998.
The Cornhuskers were an average program at best and had made just three NCAA Tournament appearances. Van Horn instantly noticed something amiss when he walked across campus. Nobody seemed to know Nebraska had a baseball team, and apparently the team didn’t want anyone to know.
“None of the baseball players wore any baseball stuff around. No ‘Nebraska Baseball’ on their shirts. We all ate in one area and you saw volleyball and football and [those teams ] had all their stuff on,” Van Horn said. “The baseball players weren’t proud of it and I noticed that in my first semester. We changed that really quick.”
Van Horn said he had to “change the mentality” concerning his team. Nebraska went to the postsason his second year, and reached an NCAA super regional his third before losing to Stanford in a deciding third game. In the fourth year, Nebraska made the 2001 College World Series.
It’s 62 miles east on Interstate 70 from Lincoln to Omaha, but the Cornhuskers had never made the short trip to play in Rosenblatt Stadium. They went back again in 2002 before Van Horn left for the Razorbacks, where he’d been an All-Southwest Conference infielder in 1982.
He posted a 214-92 record in five seasons at Nebraska. Seventeen games into year No. 6 at Arkansas, he’s 213-115.
“Coach Van Horn just bought a winning attitude. It wasn’t a matter of if we were going to get it done, it was how we were going to get it done,” said Anderson, who’s 228-102 in his sixth season with the Cornhuskers, won two Big 12 Conference titles and made the College World Series in 2005.
All three full-time members of the Cornhuskers’ coaching staff during those glory days are head coaches at major colleges: Van Horn at Arkansas, the hitting coach Anderson at Nebraska and the pitching instructor Rob Childress at Texas A&M.
“I learned a tremendous amount about baseball listening to those guys,” said McNeese State assistant coach Bubbs Merrill, an Omaha native who played for Anderson and Childress with the Cornhuskers before finishing his playing career at Arkansas with Van Horn. “They put Nebraska baseball on the map.”
Van Horn said there were only maybe two places for which he’d leave Nebraska. Arkansas topped that short list.
In many ways the schools are similar: Football is the most popular attraction, but baseball has found success, despite erratic springtime weather. Both teams boast sparkling ballparks and draw capacity crowds unseen in other areas of the country.
“I always wanted to coach at Arkansas, but it really was a tough move because of the staff we had, the players we had at the time,” Van Horn said of what he left behind in Lincoln. “We had it rolling.”
Anderson said Nebraska fans were definitely disappointed when Van Horn left. But he said the majority of those in the park the next two days, with the exception of maybe a few loudmouths, will greet their former beloved head coach with a heartfelt thanks.
“I think the fans appreciate our entire staff upgraded the baseball program at the University of Nebraska,” Van Horn said. Arkansas vs. No. 22 Nebraska WHEN 1 p. m. Central today WHERE Haymarket Park, Lincoln, Neb. RADIO Arkansas Razorback Baseball Network which includes KFAY-AM, 1030, in Fayetteville, KURM-AM, 790, in Springdale / Rogers, KWBF-FM, 101. 1, in Little Rock, KHGG-FM, 103. 1, in Fort Smith and KOMT-FM, 107. 5, in Mountain Home PITCHING MATCHUP Arkansas TBA vs. Nebraska junior LHP Dan Jennings (1-0, 3. 78 ERA ). The Razorbacks’ pitching plans were clouded after almost everyone who took the mound struggled in 15-11 and 13-2 losses to Georgia on Saturday and Sunday. Freshman Brett Eibner (2-1, 8. 18 ) would seem like a logical choice to start today, but he could be needed this weekend at LSU. Another possibility is sophomore Mike Bolsinger (1-0, 3. 75 ), who didn’t pitch in the Georgia series because of the flu. Jennings got his only victory of the year over UC Riverside (5 2 / 3 innings, 3 runs, 5 strikeouts, 5 walks ) on March 1.
THE WEEK AHEAD TODAY at Nebraska, 1 p. m. WEDNESDAY at Nebraska, 1 p. m. THURSDAY off FRIDAY at LSU, 6 p. m. SATURDAY at LSU, 3 p. m. SUNDAY at LSU, 1 p. m. MONDAY off