Arkansas Pitching Coach Dave Jorn Announces Retirement

Longtime Arkansas pitching coach Dave Jorn announced Monday in a release that he will be stepping away from the program, giving up his role as assistant coach.

Jorn had been mulling over his future for the last couple of years, the release said. He was the pitching coach under Norm DeBriyn from 1983-88 and until 2002, when Dave Van Horn hired him on, worked in Major League Baseball, something he's still interesting in.

Here's what Van Horn had to say in the release:

"I appreciate everything that Coach Jorn has done for this program since I got here 14 years ago," head coach Dave Van Horn said. "He has turned this program into a top-25 program, and has put together some of the best pitching staffs in the country. There's not a better pitching coach than Dave Jorn and he's an even better person. He's been a great friend to me and the rest of the coaching staff and always will be a man of great character."

A total of 45 pitchers have were drafted from Arkansas in his time in Fayetteville, and was in charge in 2013 when the Razorbacks pitching staff finished with the top earned run average (1.89).

The coach says he's planning to stay in Northwest Arkansas, but doesn't exactly know any details on life after Razorbacks baseball at this point. Here's a quote from him:

"I am not ready to totally retire and get out of baseball. I am thinking about going back into professional baseball, possibly scouting, maybe player development, working with some younger players in the minor leagues. I don't know anything definitive at this point but I am not done working. I still want to keep working and still want to stay in baseball."

In the release, he also stated, "It's been the best 20 years of my life. I love Arkansas." Well, the Arkansas fan base certainly feels that way about him. His pitching staffs, from 2011-14, accounted for four of the 10 lowest team ERAs in school history. That's really damn good.

And although Arkansas had its issues pitching this past season, it was commonly known as a school that would send really quality arms to the mound game in and game out. He's the big reason why.

Here is the release in full, if you're interested.