David Cason - Assistant Coach - Cowboy Basketball Coaches

David Cason

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
dcasoni@okstate.edu
Phone:
(405) 744-5845

A veteran assistant coach with 27 years of experience on collegiate sidelines, David Cason (pronounced CAY-sawn) joined head coach Mike Boynton Jr.’s Oklahoma State staff in June of 2021.

The former Illinois State point guard and two-time Missouri Valley Conference assist leader will continue his player development work with the OSU floor generals in 2023-24 while also serving as a recruiting coordinator. The Cowboys’ 2023 freshman signing class has been ranked as high as No. 7 nationally.

The Cowboys have been one of the nation’s top defensive units in the two seasons since Cason’s arrival, finishing fourth in KenPom’s defensive efficiency rankings during the 2021-22 season and 12^th the following year.

The 2022-23 Cowboys led the Big 12 in blocks, field goal percentage defense and rebounding margin on their way to 20 wins and an NIT quarterfinal berth. The 2021-22 squad finished fifth in the nation’s toughest conference, the Big 12, while ranking among the national leaders in block and steal percentage.

Cason has made 14 postseason trips at 11 different programs and been a part of more than 500 victories in his coaching career, which includes stops at Texas, North Carolina, Notre Dame, VCU and Tulsa. He arrived in Stillwater in the summer of 2021 after three years as the associate head coach at Florida International and another in the same role at Florida Gulf Coast.

“When it comes to versatility of experience, it doesn’t get much better than David Cason,” Boynton said. “Coach Cason has coached at every level of college basketball. He has proven time and time again that he has the ability to connect, recruit, develop, and coach elite.”

At FIU, Cason and head coach Jeremy Ballard achieved the program’s first 20-win season in more than two decades and earned its first postseason victory in nearly 40 years at the Division level, downing Texas State in the opening round of the 2019 CIT. The Panthers won 19 more games the following year but missed out on an opportunity to add to that total when COVID-19 wiped out the last three rounds of the conference tournament and the entirety of the postseason.

Working alongside Joe Dooley at FGCU, Cason tutored future NBA guard Brandon Goodwin to 2018 ASUN Player of the Year Honors. The Eagles finished with a 23-12 record, won the conference regular season title and earned a berth in the NIT. Their first-round opponent: Mike Boynton’s Oklahoma State Cowboys at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Cason was already plenty familiar with OSU and the Big 12 from his time on Shaka Smart’s Texas staff (2015-17). He helped the Longhorns to a 20-13 record and an NCAA tournament bid in his first year while mentoring a first team All-Big 12 point guard in Isaiah Taylor.

Cason followed Smart to Austin after a year at VCU. The 2014-15 Rams finished 26-10 and were ranked 25^th in the final AP Poll on their way to an NCAA tournament appearance.

Prior to VCU, Cason was an assistant to his former college coach, Kevin Stallings, at Vanderbilt. In his first season (2011-12), the Commodores went 25-11 and won the program’s first SEC tournament title in 60 years, defeating eventual national champion Kentucky in the final round. The Commodores ranked as high as No. 7 in the national polls that year and advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA tournament.

Cason helped develop a pair of First Team All-SEC performers in Jeffrey Taylor and John Jenkins. An AP Third Team All-American, Jenkins led the SEC in scoring (19.9) and the nation in threes-per-game (3.9) during the 2011-12 season and was selected 23^rd overall by the Atlanta Hawks. Taylor, who finished his career as Vanderbilt’s second all-time leading scorer, was taken eight picks later by the Charlotte Hornets at No. 31.

Cason spent six years at Tulsa (2005-11), including the last three as associate head coach under Doug Wojcik. He was voted Conference USA’s top assistant coach in a 2010 FoxSports.com poll of the league’s head coaches and helped the Golden Hurricane to a 123-78 (.612) record and four straight 20-win seasons. Tulsa made two NIT appearances (2009 and 2010) and won the inaugural CBI championship in 2008, dispatching Miami (OH), Utah, Houston and Bradley along the way. In his final year, Cason helped recruit and coach another future NBA draft pick, Jordan Clarkson, to 2011 CUSA All-Freshman team honors.

From 2003-05, Cason was a member of Neil Dougherty’s staff at TCU. The Horned Frogs went 21-14 in his final year and reached the quarterfinals of the 2005 NIT.

Prior to his time in Fort Worth, Texas, Cason spent three years (2000-03) as the director of basketball operations at North Carolina under head coach Matt Doherty. The Tar Heels climbed to No. 1 in the nation late in his first season and went on to win 26 games and a share of the ACC regular season title.

Cason also served as director of basketball operations at Notre Dame for one season (1999-00) under Doherty. The Irish posted a 22-15 record and advanced to NIT title game at Madison Square Garden. Before that he worked for three seasons (1996-99) as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois University.

Cason played collegiately at the College of Southern Idaho (1991-93). He was a second team all-region performer as a sophomore and twice led the Scenic West Conference in assists.

After transferring to Illinois State (1993-95) Cason won two more conference assist crowns in the Missouri Valley Conference. As a senior he won the Doug Collins Award as the team’s most valuable player and earned second team All-Valley honors while leading the Redbirds to 20 wins and second round of the NIT. He remains the program’s all-time leader in assists-per-game (6.0).

Cason stuck around an extra year to complete his undergraduate work in recreation management and launched his coaching career as a student assistant under Stallings – with whom he would later reunite at Vanderbilt. The 1996 Redbirds posted 22 wins and advanced, this time, to the NIT quarterfinals.

Cason and his wife, Tamara, have three children: daughters Da-Via and Taylor, and son, DJ.

THE CASON FILE:

Collegiate Coaching Career:
2021-Pr. – Oklahoma State – Assistant Coach
2018-21 – FIU – Associate Head Coach
2017-18 – Florida Gulf Coast – Associate Head Coach
2015-17 – Texas – Assistant Coach
2014-15 – VCU – Assistant Coach
2011-14 – Vanderbilt – Assistant Coach
2008-11 – Tulsa – Associate Head Coach
2005-08 – Tulsa – Assistant Coach
2003-05 – TCU – Assistant Coach
2000-03 – North Carolina – Director of Operations
1999-00 – Notre Dame – Director of Operations
1996-99 – Eastern Illinois – Assistant Coach
1995-96 – Illinois State – Student Assistant

Playing career:
1993-95 – Illinois State
2^nd Team All-MVC
2x conference assist leader
ISU career assist-per-game leader (6.0)

Personal:
Alma Mater: Illinois State ’96
Degree: Recreation Management
Spouse: Tamara
Children: Da-Via, Taylor & DJ