Boss Hog has eye on Omaha

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The Arkansas baseball coach and former Husker head man will be back in Omaha this weekend as a member of the USA Baseball collegiate national team. Van Horn is an assistant coach under Missouri coach Tim Jamieson during the team's 14-game tour this summer. The tour ends with a game against Japan's national team at TD Ameritrade Park at 7:05 p.m. Friday. Van Horn spoke to the World-Herald by phone from Cary, N.C., after the team's 8-2 win over Japan on Tuesday put Team USA up 2-0 in its five-game set against Japan. * * * Question: How did you get the Team USA job? Do you ever get any time off?

Dave Van Horn: I was actually going to coach with this team in 2005, but about a week before I was supposed to go to work, one of my assistant coaches left. I felt like I needed to go take care of that. They've asked me to coach every other year since, and I've enjoyed it so far. As far as time off, there's never any time off anyway. Either you're recruiting, helping out with camps, dealing with scholarships. I can do a lot of that by phone. I have outstanding assistant coaches who I trust very much and we have a very, very young team. I just felt like this was the right time for me to do it.

Q: How much talent are you working with on this USA team?

A: I tell you what, we're really talented on the mound, and that's probably the biggest difference. Our bullpen has guys who have started all over the country — SEC, Pac-10, Big 12, you name it — and they're coming out of the pen, and these guys are Friday night starters. We've got really good defenders, and it's fun. It's fun to be around such great players.

Q: How hard is it to throw a roster together?

A: We've been working on this roster and doing conference calls with all the coaches for months, all the way back into the fall. This is a shorter tour — we're not going out of the country — and we didn't have trials, so we basically selected the teams off what we've seen and what other coaches told us.

Q: You put three of your Arkansas players on the roster. How valuable is this experience for them?

A: We'll find out in the next year, but I think just from them being around all of these top players wearing this uniform, it's something they can be very proud of and something they'll never forget. To be able to play in this format will help them come fall ball and even games in the spring, just because they're playing with some of the best players from across the country. They're getting to play guys from Japan who are very talented, very good athletes.

Q: You've already played this Japanese team twice. What kind of a game can fans in Omaha expect on Friday?

A: I think the first thing you're going to notice (from the Japanese) is they're very, very vocal. A lot of them are cheering and talking and communicating and motivating. We don't know what they're saying, but that's what it looks like. They hustle, they have a lot different approach at the plate. They really hit and run. In their lineup in the first few days, they've had seven left-handed hitters and a switch-hitter. A few of those kids are running before they make contact. They get down the line. It's a very unusual swing, and you just can't make many mistakes against them. Pitching-wise, they throw good. They've shut us down twice and we've finally got it going each time for comebacks. It'll be exciting.

Q: I know it isn't the CWS, but are you excited to play at TD Ameritrade Park for the first time?

A: I'm really excited about that. I always go to South Dakota for pheasant hunting, and I drove by there during the construction last year and got to see the groundbreaking a couple years ago. To see the complete stadium will be pretty exciting, and exciting for all these kids. I think it'll be the highlight of the trip.

Q: What's your perspective on the record-low power hitting numbers we saw at this year's College World Series?

A: We knew that was going to happen, not only because the stadium's different and the wind's out of the south so it's going to blow right to left. It's not sitting on top of a hill where the wind is blowing out like Rosenblatt. But I think 95 percent of it had to be the bats. That's the way it is, the way teams played all year. You just didn't hit any home runs.

Q: This year's CWS was dominated by SEC East teams. What did you think of their battles?

A: Well, I kind of predicted one of those teams would win it. I thought Florida would probably win the CWS. That was my prediction. But South Carolina had lots of juniors and seniors, guys who had been there. They played extremely well. I thought Vanderbilt was very talented as well. That division of the SEC was something else. We played all three of those teams and beat Florida two out of three times and beat both them and South Carolina on Friday nights. I know how good they were. They don't make mistakes.

Q: Do you like using wood bats during Team USA play? What kind of a factor is that for these college hitters?

A: I like it, because that's what they use in the big leagues. Every player on this team has aspirations of playing in the big leagues, and I know they're all going to play in the minor leagues. We've played every game with no less than 30 to 35 scouts, and it's something else. The guys who make the decisions are watching these games. Putting wood bats in their hands is the right thing to do.

Q: Going off topic a little bit, what did you think of Nebraska's hiring of Darin Erstad?

A: I think they wanted to go with a Nebraska guy who knew what Nebraska was all about, and I think Darin deserved a shot. They brought Will Bolt back, another former Husker who's excited to be there, and I'm sure they'll pick it up and get rolling.

Q: What challenges do you think a guy with no college head-coaching experience will face in taking over this program?

A: I think he knows the game of baseball as good as or maybe better than anybody. The college side of it is dealing with personalities, and failing and success, and expectations and how you handle it. I think if Darin goes out and does what he does and has good coaches around him, he's going to be fine.

Q: You've said in the past that Nebraska was an extremely tough job when you took over in 1998. What kind of shape is it in now?

A: I think it's in real good shape. I think they have very good players in their program. They were probably a year away from being very good. I hated to see Mike go. He's a friend of mine, and he worked hard. I think Darin and Will and their pitching coach (Ted Silva) inherited some good players. They're going into a new league, and I think they're in good shape.

Q: Have you stayed in touch with Mike Anderson since he left and moved to Colorado?

A: Yeah, I've talked to him a few times. He's doing good. He's ready to take on the next challenge, whatever it may be. I didn't really have to give him advice. Mike's a big boy. He knows what he's doing. He's still hungry to coach, and I think he'll land on his feet in the next few months and you guys will see him again.

Q: Will Bolt was a member of your first recruiting class. What are your expectations for his coaching career?

A: He knows it's all about going out and recruiting. I think he knows what it takes to win, to get good players and whip them into shape. I thought he was a big-time leader on our field as a middle infielder. He was verbal, and he told guys when they weren't getting after it enough. He showed a lot of traits of being an outstanding coach.

Q: With Nebraska's move to the Big Ten, if you're NU's coach, how would you alter your recruiting plan to best fit that move?

A: I think first off you have to keep your in-state kids and get them to come to Nebraska. You probably have to set your sights more on northern kids. I don't think it will be much tougher to go south and pluck a kid here and there from Texas or Oklahoma, but I think they need to get into Minnesota and Wisconsin and South Dakota, maybe go back to Canada. You'd probably stay more in the Big Ten region, that would be my guess.

Q: There are no Big Ten players on the USA Baseball roster. Does that say something about the conference's talent pool?

A: I think there's good talent up there. The problem is, there are some different rules up there that I don't really want to go into. A lot of the really good kids from that area, if they get recruited by an SEC, Big 12 or ACC school, there's a good chance they're going to go. We've signed three or four kids from Indiana and Ohio and those places in the last few years. There are a lot of good players up there, but when they travel and see the southern facilities, they want to be a part of it. I think it's a tough challenge for a northern school. They have to build those relationships early, get them to commit early. If they're not committed by their sophomore or junior seasons, they're going to have their hands full.

Q: In your opinion, what does it take for a Big Ten school to get up to par with SEC schools and the nation's elite?

A: They need to commit to it. They need to commit to it 100 percent and put some money into it. They need to let them oversign a little bit because they know they'll lose kids in the draft. I know they can't, and to me that's ridiculous. If a kid in your program is a junior and projected to go in the first round, you should be able to recruit a guy to replace him. If he comes back, it works out. It's crazy that they don't do that. They need to straighten that out.

Q: Your program has been hit hard by the draft in the last two years. Is oversigning a more critical factor than people realize?

A: Yes. It's ridiculous. We signed 16 kids this year, and 13 of them got drafted. It's just the way it is. We should have the freedom to do what we need to do, and we do. The Big Ten doesn't. If they only have so much money available for seniors, that's all they get. You're never going to be able to compete with southern schools if you don't let them oversign. They have good players, but they don't have enough depth.

Q: Does Nebraska have some of the necessary features to compete on that bigger stage?

A: Nebraska has great facilities, a great ballpark, strength and conditioning; it's a great program, great school. They have lots of support. There's no issues there. It's just some of the northern schools that probably need to put more emphasis on their baseball programs.

— Max Olson

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