ARKANSAS BASEBALL

One-upping Norm: Van Horn a win ahead of DeBriyn

Dave Van Horn passed Norm DeBriyn — his predecessor and former head coach at the University of Arkansas — on Monday night for most career NCAA victories when the Razorbacks defeated Oklahoma State to win the NCAA Stillwater (Okla.) Regional. Van Horn has 1,162 wins at the NCAA level, which also includes his tenures at Northwestern (La.) State, Nebraska and Division II Central Missouri.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)
Dave Van Horn passed Norm DeBriyn — his predecessor and former head coach at the University of Arkansas — on Monday night for most career NCAA victories when the Razorbacks defeated Oklahoma State to win the NCAA Stillwater (Okla.) Regional. Van Horn has 1,162 wins at the NCAA level, which also includes his tenures at Northwestern (La.) State, Nebraska and Division II Central Missouri. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Norm DeBriyn helped bring Dave Van Horn to the University of Arkansas baseball program three times.

DeBriyn, the Razorbacks' coach for 33 seasons from 1970-2002, first brought Van Horn to Arkansas as a starting second baseman for the 1982 season.

After Van Horn was released by the Atlanta Braves organization as a player in 1984, DeBriyn convinced him to return to Arkansas to be a graduate assistant coach.

Then when DeBriyn retired from coaching after the 2002 season, he helped persuade then-Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles to hire Van Horn as his replacement.

Twenty years after Van Horn made the tough decision to leave Nebraska where he had led the Cornhuskers to back-to-back College World Series appearances and take the Arkansas job, he has passed DeBriyn in the number of victories they each achieved as NCAA coaches.

Van Horn earned his 1,162nd victory as coach of an NCAA program when the Razorbacks beat Oklahoma State 7-3 on Monday night to win the Stillwater Regional.

The breakdown for Van Horn at his NCAA program stops as a head coach include 51-11 at Division II Central Missouri, where he won a national championship in 1994; 106-65 at Northwestern (La.) State from 1995-97; 214-92 at Nebraska from 1998-2002; and 791-431 at Arkansas since 2003.

Van Horn also had a 214-72 record at Texarkana Junior College from 1989-1993, but those games don't count for NCAA wins and losses.

DeBriyn had a 1,161-630-6 record at Arkansas, the only college where he was an NCAA head coach.

"Norm means a lot to me," Van Horn said. "He's the one who helped me get this job when he was retiring. He wanted me to get this job, and I appreciate the confidence that he showed in me when I was coaching at Nebraska.

"I probably wouldn't be standing in this uniform at age 61 if it wasn't for Norm DeBriyn."

Van Horn didn't realize he had passed DeBriyn for NCAA career victories until a reporter asked him about it in a postgame news conference.

"Hey, it's awesome. It's an honor," Van Horn said. "I've had a lot of great players and a lot of great coaches. We've won a lot of games.

"I'm proud of it, but never did I ever go try to catch Norm DeBriyn because I worked for him, I played for him."

DeBriyn wasn't aware of Van Horn's milestone victory, either, until he got a call from a reporter.

"I'm so proud for Dave and the fabulous coaching career he's had," DeBriyn said. "To see baseball at Arkansas reach the level it has now under Dave is incredible."

Arkansas didn't play baseball in the Southwest Conference or have its own baseball facility before DeBriyn became the coach in 1970 when he was an assistant professor in the UA physical education department.

DeBriyn led Arkansas to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1973 as an independent. The Razorbacks joined the SWC for baseball the next season.

In 1979, Arkansas broke through with its first of four College World Series appearances under DeBriyn and finished runner-up to Cal State-Fullerton.

DeBriyn also led the Razorbacks to NCAA regional appearances in 1980, 1983, 1985-90 as SWC members and in 1995-96, 1998-99 and 2002 after Arkansas joined the SEC. The other College World Series trips under DeBriyn were in 1985, 1987 and 1989.

Van Horn has led the Razorbacks to 18 NCAA regional appearances and advanced to the College World Series six times, including 2004, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2018 -- when they finished national runner-up to Oregon State -- and 2019.

Arkansas will try to make its 11th College World Series appearance when the Razorbacks open a best-of-three super regional series at North Carolina on Saturday.

Van Horn said his success aside, DeBriyn remains the greatest baseball coach at Arkansas.

"Norm's the best coach ever," Van Horn said. "He did it when they played at the Fair Grounds and had a crappy field. They had nothing. He did it then."

DeBriyn's success in building the program -- and building relationships -- resulted in Baum-Walker Stadium being built and opening during the 1996 season when it had four skyboxes.

Baum-Walker Stadium has undergone numerous renovations and expansions the last 25 years and and now has 34 skyboxes. The UA season sold 363,160 tickets for its home games this season-- an average of 10,376 -- to lead the nation in paid attendance.

"Norm made Arkansas one of the first really good national programs, and Dave has continued that and been very consistent at a high, high level," said Keith Guttin, who completed his 40th season as Missouri State's coach this year and has faced the Razorbacks under DeBriyn and Van Horn a combined 59 times. "I mean, there are very high exceptions at Arkansas, and Dave has continued to meet those, and that's really hard to do."

DeBriyn recalled that Van Horn, a graduate assistant for the Razorbacks from 1985-88, showed a penchant for recognizing talent.

Van Horn accompanied DeBriyn on a recruiting trip to a junior college tournament. DeBriyn knew the main players he wanted to scout, but he didn't show the list to Van Horn.

"When that tournament was over and we were driving back home, Dave was telling me who the best players were on the field -- the same guys I knew about, but he didn't -- and I was thinking to myself, 'That's amazing,' " DeBriyn said. "His evaluation of talent as a young graduate assistant was really impressive."

DeBriyn said it was easy to bring Van Horn back to the program as a graduate assistant after he was the SWC Newcomer of the Year in 1982 as a transfer from McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. He batted .367 for the Razorbacks and had 33 runs batted in.

"If you needed a ball hit to somebody, you wanted it hit to Dave, and he always got clutch hits," DeBriyn said. "When he got released by the Braves, we visited, and I said, 'Dave you need to get your degree. I could keep you on as a graduate assistant.'

"I realized pretty quickly he was going to be a good coach."

Dave Jorn was a pitching coach at Arkansas for both DeBriyn (1983-88) and Van Horn (2003-16).

"Norm is the type of guy who would do anything he possibly could for his assistant coaches," Jorn said. "He was always ready to say a good word to promote you for a job. He was great in that respect, and Dave is the same way. He learned that from Norm.

"Both are the same type of head coaches. Both let you do your job as an assistant coach. Good head coaches are going to hire good assistants, and then they're going to show trust and faith in them."

Arkansas was traveling to the 1981 SWC Tournament in College Station, Texas, when the team bus stopped at a McDonald's in Waco so DeBriyn could talk with Van Horn, who had narrowed his recruiting choices to the Razorbacks and Texas A&M.

"We were worried we were going to lose him to A&M because we had a field and they had a stadium," DeBriyn said in 2012. "We really wanted him to sign when we met him in Waco, but he wasn't sure."

Van Horn said he thought he'd be meeting with the Arkansas coaching staff that day, but the entire team got off the bus and surrounded the table where he was sitting.

DeBriyn recalled that as the bus pulled away, some players yelled out the windows telling Van Horn not to come to Arkansas.

"There were a couple smart-alecks in the group," Van Horn said. "I still showed up, though, didn't I? I must have wanted to be here."

Van Horn is a year older than DeBriyn was when he stepped down from coaching at age 60. But Van Horn last year signed a contract extension for up to 10 years.

"But I don't see Dave retiring any time soon," DeBriyn said. "He still has the energy to coach and recruit at a high level, and he manages his team very well, and he manages his coaching staff and the overall program."

DeBriyn, 79, continues to work part time for the Razorback Foundation and stays in close touch with Van Horn.

"We talk, we text all the time, he comes by my office," Van Horn said. "He comes by for 15 minutes, and we talk.

"Then he'll get up and say, 'Well, I got my baseball fix. I'll see you later.' I'll say, 'See you, Norm.' It's pretty cool."

Chapel Hill (N.C.)

Super Regional

(Best-of-3; x-if necessary)

SATURDAY’S GAME All times Central

Arkansas vs. North Carolina, 10 a.m. (ESPN)

SUNDAY’S GAME

North Carolina vs. Arkansas, noon (ESPN or ESPN2)

MONDAY’S GAME

x-Arkansas vs. North Carolina, TBD


Most Division I baseball coaching victories

NCAA Division I baseball coaches with the most victories:

RK. COACH YEARS SCHOOLS RECORD

1. Mike Martin 1979-2019 Florida State 2,029-736-4

2. Augie Garrido 1968-2016 San Francisco, Cal Poly, Cal St.-Fullerton, Illinois, Texas 1,975-951-9

3. Gene Stephenson 1977-2013 Wichita St. 1,768-675-3

4. Mark Marquess 1976-2017 Stanford 1,627-878-7

5. Jim Morris 1981-2018 Georgia Tech, Miami 1,594-716-4

6. Larry Hays 1970-2008 Lubbock Christian, Texas Tech 1,508-860-4

7. Paul Mainieri 1982-2021 St. Thomas, Air Force, Notre Dame, LSU 1,505-777-7

8. Mike Fox 1982-2020 N.C. Wesleyan, North Carolina 1,487-547-5

9. Chuck Hartman 1959-2006 High Point, Virginia Tech 1,444-816-8

10. Cliff Gustafson 1967-1996 Texas 1,427-373-2

ALSO

34. Dave Van Horn* 1993-2022 Central Mo., NW (La.) State, Nebraska, Arkansas 1,162-589-0

35. Norm DeBriyn 1969-2002 Arkansas 1,161-650-6

*Active





  photo  Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn (right) surpassed the career victory total of his mentor and predecessor, Norm DeBriyn (left), in Monday’s win over Oklahoma State at the Stillwater (Okla.) Regional. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)
 
 


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