A veteran with more than 20 years of collegiate coaching experience, David Cason is in his first season in 2017-18 as an assistant coach with the FGCU men's basketball team.
Cason (pronunciation: KAY-sahn) spent the previous two seasons in the same role at Texas under head coach Shaka Smart. A talented coach and recruiter, Cason has spent time with VCU, Vanderbilt, North Carolina and Notre Dame, among others, while being part of more than 400 wins.
In his two years at Texas, Cason was part of more than 30 wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance. Cason followed Smart to UT after spending the 2014-15 season as an assistant coach with him at VCU, helping lead the Rams to a 26-10 overall record and #25 ranking in the final Associated Press Poll.
While with VCU, Cason coached current FGCU redshirt junior Michael Gilmore, who was then a freshman with the Rams, in addition to current FGCU redshirt senior Antravious Simmons, who was then a sophomore with the Atlantic 10 Conference member. VCU captured the 2015 A-10 Tournament Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round.
Over his tenure, Cason has been part of 11 different 20-win seasons, four NCAA Tournament trips, six NIT appearances and one College Basketball Invitational Championship crown. Cason has a reputation as a stellar recruiter, and was identified in 2010 while at Tulsa as the top assistant coach in Conference USA in a FoxSports.com survey of the league’s head coaches.
A native of Baltimore – the hometown of FGCU freshman Darnell Rogers – Cason worked for three years (2011-14) as an assistant at Vanderbilt under Kevin Stallings and helped the Commodores post a 56-43 (.566) record. Vanderbilt registered a 25-11 mark in 2011-12, won the SEC Tournament Championship for the first time in 60 years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Third Round.
He helped develop a pair of 2012 SEC First Team selections in Jeffery Taylor and John Jenkins. Taylor, who finished his career as the school’s 2nd all-time leading scorer (1,897), was selected as the No. 31 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by Charlotte. As a junior in 2011-12, Jenkins led the SEC in scoring (19.9 ppg) and topped the nation in 3-pointers made per game (3.9) while earning Third Team All-America honors by The AP. He was selected as the No. 23 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by Atlanta.
Cason moved on to Vanderbilt after spending six seasons at Tulsa from 2005-11, including the last three in the role of associate head coach. The Golden Hurricane posted a 123-78 (.612) overall record in his six years, including four-straight 20-win seasons (2006-10), made two NIT appearances (2009 and 2010) and won the 2008 CBI Championship.
He helped recruit and coached Jordan Clarkson for one season (2010-11) at Tulsa, where Clarkson earned Conference USA All-Freshman Team honors. Clarkson was selected as the No. 46 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by Washington before being traded to the Lakers later that night.
Prior to his time at Tulsa, Cason served as an assistant coach for two seasons (2003-05) at TCU. The Horned Frogs registered a 21-14 mark and advanced to the NIT quarterfinals in 2004-05.
He spent three years (2000-03) as the Director of Basketball Operations at North Carolina under head coach Matt Doherty. In his first season, the Tar Heels won 26 games and earned a #1 national ranking late in the regular season. UNC won a share of the ACC Regular Season Championship with a 13-3 league record, advanced to the ACC Tournament Final and claimed a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Cason served as Director of Basketball Operations at Notre Dame for one season (1999-2000) under Doherty. The Irish posted a 22-15 record and advanced to the NIT Championship Final. He also worked for three seasons (1996-99) as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois University.
Collegiately, Cason played his first two years (1991-93) of basketball at the College of Southern Idaho. He led the Scenic West Conference in assists during each of his two seasons and earned Second Team All-Region honors as a sophomore. He played his final two seasons at Illinois State, when Stallings was the head coach for the Redbirds. FGCU opens its 2017-18 season at home against Illinois State – the co-Missouri Valley Conference Regular Season Champions last year – at 1 p.m. on Nov. 11.
Cason led the MVC in assists in both years and remains the school’s leader in career assists per game (6.0). In his senior campaign, he earned Second Team All-MVC honors, claimed the Doug Collins Award as the team’s Most Valuable Player and was named the top athlete at Illinois State. Cason also set the school single-game record for assists with 16.
He began his coaching career as a student assistant coach under Stallings. Cason earned his bachelor’s degree in recreation management from Illinois State in 1996.
Cason (born Aug. 12, 1972) and his wife, Tamara, have three children: daughters Da-Via (born Feb. 15, 1992) and Taylor (born July 14, 2002) and son, DJ (born Nov. 30, 2004).
