Dave Van Horn: NIL has made roster construction a mess

Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn has had a front row seat to how NIL has changed college baseball over the last two years. Saturday marks the two-year anniversary of NIL moving from theoretical to actual, and it has changed college athletics in many ways. Some were expected when it first created. Many others were not.

Van Horn recently discussed how NIL has impacted college baseball.

“It’s like anything else,” Van Horn said. “It’s an advantage over some that don’t have as much, so to speak, and it’s a disadvantage over some that have a lot more. I think just from watching games the last few weeks, you see where the portal can really springboard you ahead of some people if those guys come in and they stay healthy and they don’t get hurt. But I think last summer, some schools maybe were more advanced in what they could offer and they did offer. They got help from around the area and the state and they landed some pretty good guys. Guys that we were on honestly. This year, maybe it’s a little more level, but it’s honestly out of control.”

NIL isn’t the only thing changing college sports. The transfer portal has made a huge difference and Arkansas has done well in it. The Razorbacks have landed five players this cycle out of the portal: Sacramento State infielder Wehiwa Aloy, Kansas left-hander Stone Hewlett, Tarleton State first baseman/outfielder Jack Wagner, Texas Tech catcher Hudson White and Missouri outfielder Ty Wilmsmeyer.

The 62-year-old Van Horn has been in the college baseball world for nearly 40 years and has been a head coach for over 30. He has seen many of the changes in college baseball over the years.

The changes NIL has brought has left him without concrete answers for how to deal with the problems it has created.

“I don’t know where this goes from here if you were dealing with it like we are and everybody is,” Van Horn said. “I’ve watched some mid-major Division I programs get absolutely — to use another term — torched this summer already. I’ve seen coaches quit, retire, that weren’t going to but they don’t have any players left. I don’t know where it’s gonna go. We want to be in the game so we’re in the game. So we’re getting after it. But if you really take a step back and look at everything as a whole, I think it’s a mess. We’ll see where it ends up.”