Van Horn Prepares Arkansas for Portal Madness as Coaching Shakeup Rocks SEC
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn has been busy in the portal picking up eight transfers so far, but with three massive names entering thanks to Jim Schlossnagle taking the job at Texas less than 48 hours after taking the Texas A&M Aggies to the College World Series Final, the chaos may be far from over.
"It’s a tough situation when you jump from one school right down the road to another one," Van Horn said. "They don’t like each other in the first place. It’s going to be interesting in our coaches' meetings."
Arkansas fans have already experienced what a massive coaching shift can do the transfer portal with John Calipari leaving Kentucky for Arkansas. This seismic shift in the baseball coaching landscape has already caused ripple effects in the portal with All-SEC Freshman Gavin Grahovac, D1 Baseball First-Team All-American Jace LaViolette and College World Series star Kaeden Kent all entering the transfer portal per D1Baseball's Portal Tracker.
TRANSFER UPDATE: @AggieBaseball All-American outfielder Jace LaViolette has entered the Transfer Portal, I'm told. LaViolette hit .305 with 16 doubles, three triples, 29 homers and 78 RBIs this past season.https://t.co/F2mEcVz9t4
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) June 26, 2024
It's the latest saga in the world of the transfer portal, one Van Horn says he's adapted well.
"I think we’ve done a good job navigating and getting better and figuring out how to handle it," Van Horn said. "There are some teams that have a lot more NIL money to dish out than other teams. Frankly, those teams that have it, they’re doing very well. We have to deal with that. But we want to bring in the player that it’s not all about the money. Yeah it would be nice to pluck one here or there, but we’ve got to get the right ones and frankly you have a budget."
Arkansas also has shown an ability to grab recruits out of high school and the college portal from all corners of the country with three transfers in the incoming class from California and two freshmen in each of the last two signing classes from the West Coast. Players like Ryder Helfrick, Gabe Gaeckle, and Hunter Dietz (Florida) all committed to Arkansas from non-traditional locations for Razorback recruiting, another symptom of NIL.
"I think it opens up a door for everything,” Van Horn said. “Because if you have got it, you are offering players half a baseball scholarship and another $100,000 or more in many cases and even a lot more than that at some places, when you make a phone call and you start talking about what is going on with you and who is on you, the first thing you say is ‘Would you be interested in talking about being an Arkansas Razorback?' and nine times out of 10 they say yes."
Regardless of whether Arkansas lands any of the highly touted Texas A&M transfers now in the portal, it's just another byproduct of what college sports has become, and Van Horn has done a better job than any other coach at Arkansas navigating the treacherous waters of NIL.
Folllow all of AllHogs Transfer Portal Coverage:
Arkansas Transfer Portal (So far) :
Incoming (8):
Aiden Jimenez (Oregon State)
Rocco Peppi (Fresno State)
Landon Beidelschies (Ohio State)
Logan Maxwell (TCU)
Maximus Martin (Georgia State)
Carson Hansen (Milwaukee)
Charles Davalan (FGCU)
Kuhio Aloy (BYU)
Outgoing (2):
Jayson Jones
Hunter Grimes
HOGS FEED:
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• Calipari adds two more to Hogs' roster
• Transfer portal rolls on with another pitcher pick up
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DANIEL SHI