OKLAHOMA CITY -- Rob Childress has already put his mark on Texas A&M baseball.

In just his second season at the school, Childress has guided the Aggies to their first Big 12 Tournament championship.

It is success that Childress says he owes Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn.

"I am where I am today because of one person, and that's Dave Van Horn," Childress said from the Big 12 Tournament in Bricktown Ballpark last week. "He gave me an opportunity at Texarkana College, not just to be an assistant with him, but the opportunity to coach."

While Texas A&M has had some success in the past, the Aggies have watched as six different teams won Big 12 Tournament championships since the merging of the Southwest Conference and the Big Eight Conference 11 seasons ago.

On Monday, the NCAA rewarded Texas A&M as host of one of 16 regional tournaments as the road to Omaha begins. The Aggies (44-16) will take on No. 4 seed LaMoyne (34-17) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Olsen Field in College Station.

"What I've taken from (Van Horn) is just a blue-collar, hard-nosed mentality that you try to instill in your kids to achieve and to compete," Childress said. "At times this year, we've done that."

It was at Texarkana where Van Horn gave Childress his first coaching job in 1991. After Van Horn left for Northwestern State, Childress was elevated to the head coaching position at Texarkana College in 1994, but rejoined Van Horn two years later at Northwestern State. When Van Horn accepted the head coaching position at Nebraska on 1998, he took Childress with him.

"He gave me responsibilities as much as I wanted," Childress said. "I appreciate everything he's done."

At Nebraska, the two enjoyed unprecedented success. The Huskers earned the school's first College World Series berth in 2001 and then duplicated it in 2002. It was a significant event for Nebraska baseball given that Lincoln is located just an hour from Omaha, where the College World Series has been held since 1950. It immediately catapulted Van Horn to legendary status in an otherwise football-crazed state.

"That guy's a winner in every sense of the word," Childress said. "It doesn't matter what you're doing, if it's tiddly-winks or racquetball, he's going to try to beat you. His kids exude that."

When Van Horn left for his dream job at Arkansas in 2003, Childress stayed behind at Nebraska. It was a difficult decision.

"It was," Childress said. "I've been with him off and on for 14 years. He's not only my mentor and a guy that I coached with, but he's also a close friend of mine."

Childress stayed at Nebraska until his own dream job came open last year when the Texas native took over at Texas A&M.

"There's not a place in the world that I'd rather be a head coach at than Texas A&M University," Childress said.

Childress grabbed Matt Deggs, a former assistant at Arkansas, to go with him to Texas A&M. Deggs and Childress first coached together as an assistant under Van Horn at Northwestern State. Childress also hired former Razorback Jeremy Talbot as an assistant. Talbot first met Childress as a volunteer assistant under Van Horn at Nebraska in 1999. So, the connections run deep between the coaches at Texas A&M and Van Horn.

"We're all friends, we had an incredibly good staff (at Nebraska)," Van Horn said. "Those are great coaches -- all of them -- and coach Deggs will get a head coaching job some day."

On Monday morning prior to the announcement of the College World Series field, Van Horn and Childress were on the telephone to each other. Both were already of assured of hosting regional tournaments, but wanted to pick each other's brains about opposing teams.

"I've already talked to Coach Childress two times this morning," Van Horn said. "He was going, 'Hey, what do you know? Can you tell me?' I was like, 'What do you think, I would know?' I have a great relationship with those guys. We talk. We text. We e-mail. Probably about once or twice a week."

With Van Horn and Childress now guiding major college baseball programs and at the top of their professions, there's very little chance they will team up again. That only leaves the possibility of competing against each other some day.

"I'd want to beat him just as bad as I want to beat Nebraska and Texas," Childress said, adding that the two would shake hands before the game and "then it would be on."

COLLEGE STATION REGIONAL

At Olsen Field

College Station, Texas

Friday

Game 1 -- Louisiana-Lafayette (43-15) vs. Ohio State (37-22), 1 p.m.

Game 2 -- Texas A&M (44-16) vs. LeMoyne (34-17), 7 p.m.

Saturday

Game 3 -- Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 1 p.m.

Game 4 -- Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 7 p.m.

Sunday

Game 5 -- Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 1 p.m.

Game 6 -- Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 7 p.m.

Monday

Game 7 -- Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 6:30 p.m., if necessary

Bio Box

Rob Childress

SCHOOL: Texas A&M University

CAREER DIV. I RECORD: 44-16

COACHING BACKGROUND: Assistant coach Texarkana College 1991-1992; assistant coach Northwood University 1993; head coach Texarkana College 1994 (43-10); assistant coach Northwestern State 1995-97; assistant coach Nebraska 1998-2006.

PERSONAL: Wife Amanda; daughter Hannah