Case for Van Horn as Coach of the Year is Air Tight

No team could navigate high profile injuries and keep winning at the level Arkansas has

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
May 9, 2023 9:32 AM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A couple of days ago, an Arkansas fan casually wrote on social media that Razorback head coach Dave Van Horn should be the national college baseball coach of the year.

That might be the understatement of the year. What Van Horn has done under borderline impossible circumstances at Arkansas this year is nothing short of a miracle. If he fails to come away with the award, it will be the greatest oversight in the history of college athletics in terms of awards.

The Razorbacks are No. 3 in the nation while leading the toughest baseball conference in America by far. While this is hardly anything new for the Razorbacks who are typically a staple near the top of the SEC and always a threat to make a run deep into the College World Series, this is a unique season.

Van Horn has his team two series away from a regular season championship and possibly vaulting to No. 1 in the nation despite being without his No. 1 pitcher, No. 1 set-up guy, former No. 1 closer turned starter, new No. 1 closer, best hitter, lead-off hitter and his multi-million dollar draft prospect second baseman.

Besides having the entire Friday pitching rotation gone in Jaxon Wiggins, Koty Frank and Dylan Carter, Arkansas is missing just shy of three runs per game with Jared Wegner, Peyton Stovall and Tavian Josenberger out of the line-up, not to mention three elite gloves in the field. On top of that, Brady Tygart, who is expected to anchor the new iteration of the pitching rotation going forward, was out with an injury for two months before returning to make two starts over the past week that went one inning and two innings out of caution while working him back into shape for the final grind of the season.

To put this in perspective, it's as if Sam Pittman lost quarterback KJ Jefferson, running back Raheim "Rocket" Sanders, whomever turns out to be the top receiver, plus the starting linebacker, safety and one of the starting defensive linemen. Also, offensive lineman Beaux Limmer missed the first five games of the SEC schedule and was only allowed to play the first quarter of the last two SEC match-ups.

Yet, despite all of this, this hypothetical Razorback team is tied for first place with a chance to play LSU to secure the regular season championship and appears to be a lock for the college football playoff. There's no doubt that Sam Pittman would be the national coach of the year regardless of how that LSU game turned out.

And that's the case here. No matter how things shake out against No. 6 South Carolina or No. 5 Vanderbilt, Van Horn has earned the right to be called national coach of the year. Fans were beside themselves that Arkansas got swept by Georgia a few weeks back, the first time such a thing has happened in five years. However, under the circumstances, this team should have been swept several times this year.

So, if Van Horn's name isn't at the top of the list when it comes time to vote for who did the best coaching job at season's end, it will be a moment of absurdity to say the least. There's no way to know how much more magic the Arkansas skipper has, but what's taken place has been college baseball's equivalent of raising the dead. And that's a miracle that deserves to be recognized.