Head Diamond Hog Dave Van Horn strongly endorses his hitting coach

The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (31-3; 11-1 SEC), fresh off a midweek victory against their in-state rivals, the Arkansas State Red Wolves (14-18; 5-7 Sun Belt), have one of the most explosive offenses in the SEC and nation. Unfortunately, many cynical critics, especially many Razorback fans, have not properly appreciated the offense and its leader, hitting coach and recruiting coordinator Nate Thompson.  

Those Nate Thompson critics, appropriately labeled as cynical and misguided, lack an understanding of how central he has been to the Razorbacks' success over the years he has served as an assistant coach, entering his eighth year this season at Arkansas. Thompson has, as his biography on the University of Arkansas's athletics website discloses, "helped develop eight All-Americans, 18 All-SEC honorees, and 24 MLB draft selections since joining the program ahead of the 2018 campaign."

Although Thompson's significant record of accomplishments merits more time and space than current limitations here permit, the University of Arkansas's athletics website also shares the following fact about his record that encapsulates how valuable he has been to the Razorbacks' baseball team: "No program in the country has had more hitters selected in the MLB draft than Arkansas since Thompson's first year on the job."

Fans criticize Arkansas hitting coach

Given the previously mentioned and more, calls for Nate Thompson's termination at any point in his tenure at Arkansas have been cynical and misguided, as labeled above.

While the present writer loves diversity of thought and appreciates the passion of those opposing Thompson, those thoughts need to be grounded, as much as possible, in data and facts, not simply loose reactions, especially when discussing separating someone from his livelihood. The previously selected examples of negative criticism about Nate Thompson were used not to target those individuals but because they represent criticism of that ilk about Thompson.

The more sophisticated Razorback fandom is, the more positive influence it can have on coaches, administrators, current and future players and their parents and families, and media about Arkansas athletics. The more removed fandom is from knee-jerk and prisoner-of-the-moment reactions, the more effective it is.

In Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, the late Fredric Jameson, one of the most brilliant and influential cultural contemporary theorists, posited that our postmodern epoch is characterized by a general unwillingness to "think the present historically," surrendering to superficial and fragmentary thinking and "historical depthlessness." Jameson's position is applicable to Thompson's critics.

Thompson's critics fail to consider his history of success at Arkansas, only emphasizing times when the offense is perceived as causing the team to lose and not progress as far as they think it should go, which evokes Jameson's notion of a resistance to "thinking the present historically" and "historical depthlessness." A basic Google search can help one avoid the consequences of failing to think about Thompson in totality, given that it will yield his impressive record, a record that, again, reflects, among other noteworthy accomplishments, the following: "No program in the country has had more hitters selected in the MLB draft than Arkansas since Thompson's first year on the job."

His critics also seem to lack knowledge of him being the baseball team's recruiting coordinator, which means some of the elite players Razorback Nation has enjoyed over the past seven-plus years since he arrived could have left, given his central role in the recruiting process, if he had been fired. Thompson recruited elite talent before NIL emerged. Therefore, robust relationships are inextricably linked to Thompson and Arkansas's success. Separate players from that relationship, and one can sever them from the tie that binds them to Arkansas, producing transfers. Players are humans with emotions, not savages. Remember this.

Dave Van Horn passionately defends Nate Thompson

Coaches are humans with emotions, too, not savages. While not always directly, they read and hear what is communicated on podcasts and social media. The digital age in which we reside makes this practically unavoidable. Dave Van Horn, University of Arkansas head baseball coach, indicated how frustrating it is to read a constant barrage of messages calling for Nate Thompson's termination as he spoke for the third time this season at the Swatter's Club, occurring before the victory against Arkansas State, to share his thoughts about the season thus far.

Van Horn said, "Our offense is pretty special if you haven't figured it out yet. I'll just say that. By the way, our hitting coach he's pretty good, for those of you that didn't know that. So, overall, we're leading the SEC by about 30 points in hitting, and in just SEC games, we're first. We're hitting .361 as a team in SEC games. The next closest team is .299, so don't be sending me any more texts about getting a new hitting coach. Had to say it. I'm done. Anyway, I could get rolling on that, but I'm going to leave that one alone."

In this speech, Van Horn modeled how to make a compelling argument about Nate Thompson. He made a clear and strong claim and employed relevant and adequate evidence, which aided him in successfully justifying his reasoning. Therefore, while calling for a coach to be fired when one genuinely feels it is necessary can be part of healthy debate and discourse, we should be reminded of the fundamental elements of argumentation that Van Horn demonstrated.