FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said interest level is "very high" in the vacancy on his staff that was created when Tony Vitello took Tennessee's head coaching job earlier in the week.
Van Horn said he has heard from numerous SEC coaches with recommendations for the position.
"Really the last 36 hours my phone has been nonstop, either with texts or phone calls," Van Horn said Friday morning. "I've spent a lot of time on the phone. I started returning texts this morning about 5:50 a.m. that I just couldn't get to yesterday [Thursday] to make sure everybody feels like I'm acknowledging, at least, they're interested in the job.
"I've made a lot of calls. I've made some tough calls, telling some coaches probably not, but I appreciate it."
There is no timetable on naming a replacement for Vitello, who spent four seasons as the Razorbacks' hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. In 2013, Van Horn waited until early July to hire Vitello as a replacement for Todd Butler, who took the head coach position at Wichita State in mid-June.
"I would like to knock it out, but a couple of the guys we're looking at, teams might still be playing," Van Horn said. "I'd like to have it done in a couple of weeks, but if it takes longer than that, if we have to wait, we'll do what we need to do."
Van Horn said recruiting ties in Texas and the Midwest are important to keep in place. Vitello is considered one of the nation's best recruiters, and was especially effective in areas such as Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and St. Louis, metro areas that accounted for 40 percent of the team's roster this season.
"I definitely want someone who has been there and done that on the recruiting trail," Van Horn said.
Vitello was introduced Friday during a news conference on the field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.
As a player at Missouri, Vitello said he looked up to Van Horn at Nebraska and former Texas coach Augie Garrido as "giants" in the Big 12.
"Dave Van Horn was the one I watched most closely because I felt I was most like him," said Vitello, wearing an orange blazer and orange tie. "To be able to work with him was incredible for a lot of reasons, and the important one that relates to the University of Tennessee is I feel, and I know many people feel, he is hands down the best coach in the SEC."
High on Hogs
Dave Van Horn talked up his 2017 team, which finished 45-19, an improvement of 19 victories from 2016, after falling 3-2 to Missouri State in the NCAA Fayetteville Regional final on Monday.
"I obviously wish we were still playing this weekend," Van Horn said. "But I really couldn't have asked a whole lot more from the team.
"They gave an incredible effort. From the day they walked in here last August to the last out in the ninth against Missouri State. I'm excited for the future. I'm looking forward to getting through the summer, getting through the draft to see where we're at. ... I'm just proud these guys hung in there and we turned it back around and got it where it needs to be."
Van Horn said he's encouraged by where the Arkansas pitching could wind up in 2018, along with the array of returning position players and younger players to fill in around them.
The list of returning starters includes catcher Grant Koch, shortstop Jax Bigger, third baseman Jared Gates and outfielders Eric Cole and Dominic Fletcher.
"Then, we'll be plugging in some athletic kids around those guys," Van Horn said, "plus some guys that'll just make that jump like everybody does from their freshman to their sophomore year."
Elander on board
Dave Van Horn said volunteer coach Josh Elander has been certified to go on the road recruiting until he hires a replacement for Tony Vitello, the Hogs' recruiting coordinator and hitting coach who accepted the head coaching job at Tennessee this week.
Van Horn said Elander, a 2016 TCU graduate, could be in the running for a full-time job soon "because Josh is really good. ... He's getting close to gaining the experience for this type of position.
"This position is -- the way we're set up with coach [Wes] Johnson and myself -- really someone that can work with hitters, which Josh can do, but we need someone who has a little more experience out on the road that can really grind it out recruiting. It's a huge commitment, the recruiting part of it."
Van Horn said Elander had given a two-year commitment as a volunteer coach.
"It's hard to get them to stay longer than that," he said. "Josh could probably get a job right now at a smaller school, a junior college, a mid-major. Next year it'll be the same, but it'll be better because his resume will be better.
"His wife is a school teacher here. They love it here. He wants to stay here another year. Obviously he would like to be the full-time assistant, but we've had two different conversations and they've gone well. He has a bright future in coaching. He's going to be fine."
Elander was a key player on TCU's 2010 College World Series team as a freshman and he spent four years in professional baseball after finishing with the Horned Frogs in 2012.
Catcher Grant Koch said Elander, who works with the catchers, has been a strong influence.
"For me, he kind of put it all together," Koch said. "He worked with me the most and so I'm probably pretty biased. But it's just having him as somebody you can relate to. He's younger and he's kind of been through it all and he's been in our shoes."
USA tryout
Catcher Grant Koch will try out for the USA Collegiate National Team later this month in Cary, N.C.
Koch had previously committed to play for the Cotuit Kettleers in the Cape Cod League, but said he will return to Fayetteville for the summer if he does not earn a roster spot with Team USA. The national team is scheduled to play teams from China and Cuba, as well as summer collegiate league teams in North Carolina and Virginia.
"I'm excited about that,to go out and compete," Koch said. "It won't be as much as a normal summer team but I'm really excited to get out. It's going to be a great opportunity."
Koch batted .264 with 13 home runs and 42 RBI as a sophomore. He had one error in 62 starts behind the plate.
Power plays
Razorbacks pitchers broke the school record by recording 619 strikeouts, smashing the previous record of 565 held by the 2007 team, and the team hit 83 home runs, the highest total since the 2009 team hit a school-record 92 home runs.
"We could see the power in the fall," Dave Van Horn said. "It had me concerned because I was kind of worried about our pitching, because we hit a lot of home runs in the fall. We thought we would be able to put up some big innings, which we did."
Van Horn said the home run numbers were likely a crest based on having younger guys like Fletcher, who hit 12, to combine with veterans like Chad Spanberger (20), Grant Koch (13), Luke Bonfield (9) and Carson Shaddy (8).
"We'll still hit our home runs, but I think we'll hit a lot more doubles next year," Van Horn said. "It's hard to hit doubles when ... teams are playing us on the warning track. We couldn't hit the ball over Missouri State's head hardly. They were way back there."
Van Horn said first-year pitching coach Wes Johnson did an excellent job of getting the staff lined up and organized.
"We had a plan when we went into every game," Van Horn said. "We'd meet and here's how we're going to run it, suggestions either way. How we're going to come out of the pen in this situation. For the most part, it worked."
Injury updates
Infielder Hunter Wilson, who fouled a ball of the upper part of his right shin on March 14, is eligible for a medical redshirt and should have two seasons remaining.
"He probably would have been better off if it was broken, honestly," Coach Dave Van Horn said. "They could have set it and let it heal. He's getting better. He's just now getting to the point where they're letting him put pressure and jog on it a little bit."
Van Horn said that testing revealed "some type of fracture" in Wilson's leg.
Van Horn tree
Tony Vitello is the second former Dave Van Horn assistant to become a head coach in the SEC. Rob Childress, a pitching coach for Van Horn during stops at Northwestern State and Nebraska, is the head coach at Texas A&M.
Other head coaches who are former assistants under Van Horn include Sam Houston State's Matt Deggs, Wichita State's Todd Butler, Chris Curry (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) and Louisiana Tech's Lane Burroughs.
Sports on 06/10/2017