Dave Van Horn Candid On Razorbacks Baseball and NIL
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — With baseball just two weeks away, coach Dave Van Horn gave his expectations of the season and his standard preview of the new players on the team. He mentioned lefty starter Mason Molina and power-hitting shortstop Wehiwa Aloy.
In a radio interview on "Out of Bounds" on 103.7 The Buzz took a sharp left turn. Talking about the transfer portal, Van Horn offered his opinion on how the transfer portal has reshaped the landscape of college baseball.
"You either embrace it or you do something else," Van Horn said. "Find another job. "It's just the way it is. You can get upset about it and say it's not fair, whether it is or isn't, it's there."
Van Horn has done incredibly well with transfer portal classes in the past, retooling his entire outfield each of the last 2 years. Last year's outfield was entirely transfers (Jared Wegner, Jace Borhofen and Tavian Josenberger) and became three of the team's most productive players. This year, the outfield will consist of at least one new transfer with Ty Wilmsmeyer and Ross Lovich both transferring in from Mizzou.
However, Van Horn also gave a blunt assessment of where Arkansas stands in NIL compared to the rest of the nation as Arkansas goes through a transition period between ONEArkansas and Arkansas Edge.
"We've lost out on some guys that we really wanted," Van Horn said. "In most cases, it came down to money. They wanted more money than we were willing to try and find them."
This comes off the heels of football coach Sam Pittman making similar comments in the fall with Arkansas lagging behind other top SEC schools in the NIL arms race.
"We’re not talking specifically about that much," Pittman said in November. "That’s really with the NIL department. But the money and the funds that are there, we need to grow that budget. Once we do that, we can obviously become more competitive in recruiting."
College baseball is a different beast, with just 11.7 scholarships, the players on the diamond occupy a very different spot in the pecking order compared to basketball and baseball, a full scholarship in baseball is increasingly rare.
11.7 scholarships is ridiculous," Van Horn said. "College baseball making money for the NCAA. We could go on and on about that. It gives them an opportunity to supplement scholarships. In the past, our best players would leave here and be in debt."
With whatever NIL money that the Razorbacks do have at its disposal, Van Horn looks to lead the transfers and the rest of the team to another successful season. The season opener against James Madison is scheduled for 3 p.m. Feb. 16 inside Baum-Walker Stadium.
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