OMAHA, Neb. -- Dave Van Horn considers his mentor Norm DeBriyn to be the greatest baseball coach in University of Arkansas history.
The point is arguable for the two men who stand like titans not only in Fayetteville, the Southwest Conference and the SEC, but also in college baseball annals.
DeBriyn led the Razorbacks to four College World Series appearances (1979, '85, '87, '89) and one runner-up showing in his 33 seasons. Van Horn has the Razorbacks in Omaha for the seventh time in 19 chances.
Arkansas (43-19) opens play today against No. 2 seed Stanford (47-16) at Charles Schwab Field, seeking the school's first baseball championship.
Arkansas right-hander Connor Noland (7-5, 3.86 ERA) will oppose Stanford righty Alex Williams (8-3. 2.88) at 1 p.m. Central to open bracket 2.
The Razorbacks have come excruciatingly close to a title, falling to Oregon State in the 2018 finals following a hexed foul pop that would have been the final out in Game 2, and losing to Cal State Fullerton in the 1979 finals.
Van Horn leads all active Division I college baseball coaches with nine appearances at the College World Series, and he's eager to see a celebration at the end of this trip.
"Winning it would be great," Van Horn said. "I want to win it. I've wanted to win it since I started coaching. Who wouldn't?
"You want to win it for the fan base. You want to win it for the former players, former coach, coaches. You'd love to see your team dog pile on the field."
However, Van Horn said, winning the CWS is not what drives him in his 20th season with the Razorbacks and his 28th as a Division I head coach.
His Arkansas teams have an 8-12 record at the College World Series, with the last appearance resulting in an 0-2 showing in 2019.
"I don't want the players to feel it's a failure if you don't win it," Van Horn said. "It's unbelievable how tough it is to get here. I've lived it many a time. I've been on other end of it. The heartbreak, maybe three times, that's what's hard to swallow."
Stanford Coach David Esquer was a freshman for the Cardinal when they lost 10-4 to DeBriyn's 1985 team at the College World Series with Van Horn serving as a graduate assistant, and Stanford took the Razorbacks down 1-0 the following season at the NCAA Stillwater (Okla.) Regional. They won the College World Series in 1987 with Esquer as the starting shortstop and Arkansas battling LSU, Georgia and Texas on the other side of the bracket.
"Arkansas has been around for years during my career at Stanford, and a quality team," Esquer said. "Coach Van Horn, with what he's done with that team, has been great.
"He's always been just a class individual and always loved talking baseball with him, highest respect with him, the great things he's done at Nebraska and Arkansas.
"It's no surprise to see his team here, regardless what the regular season or finish may have looked like in the SEC. When it becomes tournament time, his teams have played well and often."
Former Razorback Bubba Carpenter played on DeBriyn's 1989 College World Series team and now serves on the Razorback Sports Network radio broadcast.
"Norm DeBriyn and Dave Van Horn, they've kind of built a monster where for Arkansas fans it's Omaha or bust," Carpenter said on the Whole Hog Baseball Podcast. "If we don't get to Omaha, it's a bad year."
Carpenter said "a lot of people wrote this team off" after it faltered down the stretch of the regular season.
"I really think with all that just kind of negativity," he said, "these guys had a chip on their shoulder and, boy, they finished the season strong, they rallied together. And to end up in Omaha is just an amazing accomplishment for these guys."
The Razorbacks' recent history -- three appearances in Omaha in the past four opportunities -- is a telling clue to the level Van Horn has taken the program, but also an avenue for some of the most heart-wrenching outcomes in school history.
The fate of the 2021 team, which was ranked No. 1 almost the entire season and didn't lose a weekend series until North Carolina State edged the Hogs in a pair of one-run games in the super regional at Fayetteville, is still a raw, fresh memory for many Razorbacks.
"Last year, we obviously got to watch North Carolina State dog pile on our field, and you take it to heart," Arkansas sophomore Cayden Wallace said. "And you've got to forget it at some point.
"We've got to get back out there like we did this year and work. And we knew we wanted to be the one dogpiling this year. Not just to get here, we wanted to be set ourselves up for the chance to win it. And that's what we're focused on now, and that's how we use that motivation."
Said Noland, "It meant a lot to get back to this. Obviously we had the downfall last year that happened and we were sad about it. But it motivated us this year. We worked for it. I think Coach talked about it all year. We've got to do it for those guys that last year maybe didn't have the opportunity."
Van Horn made it clear how sweet this appearance in Omaha is based on the downer ending at Baum-Walker Stadium to the Wolfpack.
"This is special because of the way it went down last year, honestly," Van Horn said after the Razorbacks earned a CWS spot with a 4-3 win at North Carolina last Sunday. "It was tough last year at this time. This is awesome."
From 2009 to 2018, Arkansas did not have a four-year player come through the program who did not make a trip to Omaha.
Now the standard feels different.
Arkansas pitchers Kole Ramage and Zebulon Vermillion are making their third appearances at the College World Series.
"I came to Arkansas to compete for national championships and that's just all we've seemed to do since I've been here," Ramage said. "I'm just very grateful for the coaching staff and all my friends and teammates here that have put us in such a good situation since I came up here."
Van Horn doesn't have to pitch the idea of playing in Omaha to recruits. It is understood.
"When I came in, we didn't talk about it much. It was kind of expected," graduate transfer catcher Michael Turner said. "I think that's a good standard to have: Don't talk about it, be about it. Lived by that my whole life. I think it was a good fit."
Noland said the Arkansas standard is the same every day.
"You walk in the door, everybody knows what it is," he said. "You don't have to really talk about it. And that's what we do."
Said Wallace, "It's just an expectation. Being recruited here, you know this is the goal. You have a chance to come here [Omaha] every year. It's kind of like when you step on campus, you know that's what you're going to do.
"And Coach Van Horn has done an unbelievable job at taking almost every group to the College World Series. And it's definitely just something, when you step on campus you know it's going to happen. And you've got to work for it and earn it and the team's got to be tough. But that's just the kind of teams that he produces."
Today’s game
Arkansas vs. Stanford
WHEN 1 p.m. Central
WHERE Charles Schwab Field, Omaha, Neb.
RECORDS Arkansas 43-19, Stanford 47-16
STARTING PITCHERS Arkansas RHP Connor Noland (7-5, 2.99); Stanford RHP Alex Williams (8-3. 2.88)
COACHES Dave Van Horn (793-421 in 20th season at Arkansas, 1,113-580 in 28th season overall); David Esquer (182-70 in fifth season at Stanford, 707-537-2 in 23rd season overall)
SERIES Stanford leads 3-1
TV ESPN
RADIO Razorback Sports Network
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn has guided the Razorbacks to the College World Series for the seventh time in his 20 seasons with the program. Arkansas, seeking its first national title, opens against Stanford at 1 p.m. Central today at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)