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Take a look at Dave Van Horn and Brian O’Connor today at the College World Series.
You see a baseball coach establishing a legacy at Arkansas and another coach making a name at Virginia.
I see a reminder of what could have been for local baseball fans.
What if Van Horn had stayed at Nebraska in 2002?
What if O’Connor had decided to coach for Creighton in 2003?
These two could have been facing off three times a year instead of landing in the same bracket of the CWS.
NU and CU in the same CWS? That’s a long shot. And maybe that’s what Van Horn and O’Connor were thinking, too.
Conspiracy theory? Perhaps. An indictment of the potential of college baseball in Nebraska?
You decide.
Van Horn chose to return to his alma mater. O’Connor didn’t feel the same pull; he said no when his alma mater came calling.
Perhaps different men do things for different reasons. Or maybe the Nebraska and Creighton jobs are just harder than we like to admit.
Van Horn made it look easy in his five years in Lincoln. He had it rolling in 2002. New ballpark. Back-to-back CWS appearances. Why leave?
Arkansas had been to the CWS four times when Van Horn arrived, but none since 1989. The school hadn’t built the new stadium yet. The SEC is good, but the Big 12 has been, too. The weather? Advantage, Hog Land.
As Van Horn admitted here on Saturday, the Nebraska job “was probably a notch above’’ Arkansas when he bolted.
He went for potential. Speaking of that, was it going to be harder to maintain what he had done at a northern school?
“No, not at all,’’ Van Horn said. “It was more that we had Rob Childress and Mike Anderson on our staff. I’ve told my wife this more than once: If I knew that all three of us could stay together, I’d stay. But I knew Rob was going to get a job or Mike was going to get hired somewhere. And we were all going to be head coaches. I felt like I was opening the door for people. I knew I couldn’t hold onto those guys.’’
So why go to Arkansas and coach without them? I’ve said that Van Horn, Childress and Anderson were all better together than they’ve been apart. It sounds like Van Horn wasn’t sure that he could maintain NU’s run without them.
It could be that he just loves doing that hog call. That’s entirely possible, although Dana Altman would have another opinion on that.
But what was up with O’Connor back in 2003? He was the associate coach at Notre Dame, a coach-in-waiting. Why not make that first job at his home school near his hometown?
O’Connor said on Sunday that he came to Omaha six summers ago to visit with CU Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen after Jack Dahm left for Iowa. But his heart tugged him to Charlottesville, Va., where the Cavs had a new ballpark but very little tradition.
“Obviously Creighton University is near and dear to my heart,’’ O’Connor said. “I just felt that at the time I needed to branch out and do something on my own, blaze my own trail. I just felt like the University of Virginia provided an unbelievable opportunity.’’
O’Connor is a prime example of how Creighton did not capitalize on the 1991 CWS appearance.
It never built a new stadium. Twice it promoted Jim Hendry assistants to head coach rather than go outside and find an established coach. CU built soccer a state-of-the-art facility. Baseball is still playing on the same unimpressive diamond next to the parking lot.
What if Creighton had built on that 1991 momentum? What if it had had a stadium similar to Virginia’s — 3,500 permanent seats with 1,500 berm seats? Would O’Connor be dressed in Creighton blue?
He says that wasn’t the reason. But I’m not buying it. I guarantee that the potential of Creighton baseball had a lot to do with it — and that includes playing in the Missouri Valley, which has become a one-NCAA bid league. If you are taking your first coaching job, you want to have a chance.
CU baseball can be a frustrating job. Just ask Ed Servais, who interviewed at Wake Forest last week.
You can’t blame Servais. Just as I’ve never heard a Jays fan begrudge O’Connor — a member of the historic 1991 bunch — for passing on CU.
Husker fans weren’t so kind to Van Horn. But old wounds have healed. Nebraska fans are rooting for Van Horn this week, and No. 2 is having a blast at the CWS. He says it’s his first stress-free trip to Omaha.
Meanwhile, O’Connor has a huge cheering section — how much does Rosenblatt hold? — as the Cavs try to fight back.
There’s no hard feelings in the peanut gallery this week. Certainly, though, some regret.
Contact the writer:
444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com
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