As Coaching Carousel Moves Again, One Constant Quietly Putting Together Best Razorback Season

Dave Van Horn taking historical pitching staff into Arkansas baseball history books

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn before Thursday night's series opener against the LSU Tigers in Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. / Craven Whitlow-allHOGS Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Count them. Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn has seen them file in and out with varying levels of success.

• Houston Nutt
• Bobby Petrino
• John L. Smith
• Bret Bielema
• Chad Morris
• Sam Pittman
• Stan Heath
• John Pelphrey
• Mike Anderson
• Eric Musselman
• John Calipari

Calipari will be the 11th head coach of either Razorback football or basketball since Van Horn coached his first official game at Arkansas in 2003. The list doesn't even include the countless other interim coaches and coaches of other sports Van Horn has seen cycle through the Razorbacks in his 22nd season as coach. Through the madness of it all, Van Horn has amassed 866 wins and only missed the NCAA regional once in 2016 (the 2020 season was canceled after just 16 games).

His 22nd season might be his best yet. The team's 27 wins is most in Razorback history through 30 games, breaking the previous record of 26 set by the 1982 team which Van Horn played for in his only season as a player in a Hog uniform.

Nolan Souza just picked up SEC Freshman of the Week honors after slashing .571/.571/1.286 in a 4-0 week for the consensus No.1 team in the country. Hagen Smith is on every award watchlist for a pitcher and is as high as No. 7 in the latest round of MLB mock drafts (MLB.com). Will McEntire leads the team in ERA at 1.75. The rest of the starters, Brady Tygart and Mason Molina, although cooling off from their blistering hot starts, are still pulling their weight.

Arkansas is also off to a blistering start in conference play, becoming the fourth team in the SEC to finish the first four weekends of conference play at least 11-1 (2022 Tennessee, 2023 Vanderbilt, 2024 Kentucky). The Hogs are also have a chance to extend a program-best 21 consecutive wins inside Baum-Walker Stadium in a two game series against San Jose State.

Who knows how the Calipari hire will turn out, but in terms of winning success, Van Horn is going to be tough to top and if history is any indication, Van Horn just might still be here winning games after Calipari is gone too.

The next chance to see Van Horn's Razorbacks in action is Tuesday 6 p.m. against San Jose State. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+.

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