New coach promises a new approach
Cason brings fresh ideas to team
By Matt Potter
Staff Reporter

In the aftermath of violations reported in the men’s basketball program, head coach Neil Dougherty looked to his past to find a replacement for the future.

New men’s basketball assistant coach David Cason, who was hired Aug. 28 to replace former TCU assistant coach Jai Steadman, served as the director of basketball operations at the University of North Carolina under coach Matt Doherty for the past three seasons. Prior to that, Cason worked as an assistant for Doherty at Notre Dame.

Dougherty said he recommended Cason to Doherty for an assistant coaching position with the Irish. Both Dougherty and Doherty were assistant coaches under then Roy Williams at Kansas.

“He was a coach that I knew,” Dougherty said. “I visited very seriously with about three people, all of whom possessed pretty much the same qualities. But my past history with David, the things I know about him and his understanding of our system, made him stand out a little more than some of the other applicants.”

Dougherty said Cason will take over the duties of recruiting, monitoring the strength and conditioning program and serving as a liaison between the basketball department and the TCU academic center.

Cason played in the same system that TCU uses when he was a player at Illinois State University under coach Kevin Stallings, another former assistant of Williams. Dougherty said Cason is a good fit because he already has an understanding of the program’s coaching philosophy.

“I want to teach the kids from a different angle because I played in the system, and I know what Coach Dougherty wants for this basketball program,” Cason said.

Cason will be in charge of keeping a list of the student athletes’ schedules and making sure they attend classes and complete their work. He will also be in charge of scheduling tutors for the players and making sure all the coaching staff and players are on the same page, Dougherty said.

“The biggest goal for my first year of coaching at TCU is to build relationships with the kids,” Cason said. “If I present myself well to the players and they believe in me, we will be successful.”

Junior point guard Corey Santee said Cason’s experience as a player will help him relate to the current players.

“He offers a lot of experience,” Santee said. “He comes from a good background and a good program, and he was a pretty good player, so he should be able to understand us and help us out a lot.”

Cason joins second-year assistant coaches Rick Callahan and Kevin Lewis and director of basketball operations Jeff Luster.

Matt Potter