Van Horn Sentimental Toward SEC’s End of Era

Razorbacks face up and down Aggies with division title on the line

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn walks on the field during 2022 College World Series. / Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — For the final time, Arkansas will compete for a SEC Western Division title. Divisional play goes away in 2025 with a single regular season title to play for. The league expands to 16 teams with Texas and Oklahoma’s entrance. 

Since the arrival of Dave Van Horn in 2003, the Razorbacks have won seven of its eight division titles. Instead of restructuring the Southeastern Conference and designate members to appropriate divisions, the higher ups decided to nix it all. Starting this fall with football, the SEC regular season will have a sole champion before going to Atlanta for a matchup between the top two schools. Same will be done for basketball along with baseball. Van Horn isn't a huge fan because it takes the thrill out especially if teams are playing important games until the end.

"It makes it a little more interesting, I guess," Van Horn said. "It’s the two teams at the top playing each other last day. It’s difficult we’re on the road, playing in a really difficult place to win if you are the visiting team and they’ve proved that again this year with 30-plus (home) wins I think. I think it’s good for our team."

Think of the adversity Arkansas faced in each game, at home nonetheless, against Mississippi State. The Razorbacks continually mounted comebacks to win the series. A 2-1 weekend victory kept Arkansas within striking distance of the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament. However, a loss against the Bulldogs could have potentially caused a three-way tie if games play out certain ways.

"I made the comment over a week ago to our players that having the opportunity to play Mississippi State and play Texas A&M, it’s good for us in the long run as far as playing great competition," Van Horn said. "A tough venue and the two teams that are probably the hottest teams in our league, at least our division at this time. And there won’t be anything coming down the road probably that we haven’t seen after this."

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and Van Horn even stated fellow SEC coaches were indifferent to his divisional preference. Looking to the MLB and MiLB, there's divisional championships worth playing for with three 15-team divisions. Rivalries remain intense with every game being important. Van Horn mentioned his concern next season regarding a division-less conference.

"I made it well known that I don’t like it, that I don’t like top to bottom, 1 through 16, baseball divisions," Van Horn said. "Look at the big leagues. It seems like we always kind of follow their trend for the most part, like I’m surprised that we can still shift past the base. I think that’s probably coming down the road defensively."

"But I think there should be divisions. I think it keeps everybody engaged. I think if you’ve got maybe four divisions or at a minimum two, you’ve got teams that are going to fight to the end. I think next year you’ve got a team in second place trying to come in first and they’re fighting to get through the weekend and maybe somebody who’s right on their tail or ahead of them is playing a team that’s in 15th place and if I’m in 15th place, I’m playing my guys for next year, I’m playing the youngsters. We’re going to finish out and see if we can get better. I think that a lot of coaches will do that. They’re going to play for the future, and is that fair to the team that’s trying to win a championship when the team ahead of them maybe played that same team in the middle of the season and it was a different fight?"

Coaches did have an option to vote to remain in divisions but from the sound of it the league is possibly more diverse. The SEC has seen an influx of new coaches recently and the elder statesmen like Van Horn are likely outnumbered.

 "We had a voice in it and it was mixed," Van Horn said. "You could just feel it, where it was going. I don’t think we were in … I just think some didn’t know what to think, know what to say. A couple of coaches were new in the room just because they were coming in, Texas and OU were there. There was two new coaches that were there with their teams. But it’s what they were going to do. It’s just what they were going to do. I don’t know. I guess we kind of had a vote."

HOGS FEED:

• Van Horn shuffles Razorbacks rotation ahead of final SEC weekend

• Interesting mental gymnastics for Razorback football

•Can SEC kicked down the road last year in Destin likely to come back full circle this year in the same place it was originally kicked

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