16 UA FOOTBALL KP-p1

Antoine Cason is hoisted into the air by his teammates as they celebrate his punt return touchdown in the second quarter of their 2007 win over Oregon.

 KELLY PRESNELL / arizona daily star

The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

Wildcat Nation, it’s time to bring the pride back to Arizona.

For those of you who know me, you know how proud I am to be a Wildcat. What most of you don’t know is that I was recruited to Arizona by accident. True story: The coaching staff came to scout another high-profile player on my high school team and asked who I was. That’s how it went for me. I have been the underdog most of my life. The person who fought for every inch. That includes my time at Arizona, where I fought for every yard, play, interception and tackle to be the best version of myself.

When I stepped on the University of Arizona’s campus for the first time, I knew I was home. I am here to tell you today that I want to come home and stay there until the day I retire. Not as a fan or a student, but as the head coach that brings winning football to the University of Arizona.

Wait. What did you just read?

I, Antoine Cason, former first-round pick and Thorpe Award winner, want to be the future head coach of the University of Arizona Wildcats.

Arizona Wildcats athletic director Dave Heeke held a Zoom conference to discuss the reasons for why the UA chose to fire Kevin Sumlin and the characteristics of his ideal candidate for the job. He also explains why its important the next head coach embraces the culture at Arizona.

As I look at this team, I am in disbelief of where the program is today. We play with no passion. We play with no pride. I can’t just stand by and watch anymore.

That needs to change TODAY, and who better to lead the Wildcats than a Wildcat? It’s time to bring the PRIDE back to Arizona.

While I have had an initial call with AD Dave Heeke, I am looking forward and hoping to have the opportunity to sit down with him and the university leadership to showcase how I plan to bring a top staff and great players to the University of Arizona.

You may be saying, how are you going to do this? Well, in any successful relationship, there has to be honesty, and I plan on being honest with you from this point forward.

So I ask you, how do you expect to get the top players to come play for you, if you don’t have the best coaches?

I have been working tirelessly with a team of advisors on this plan. The Pac-12 as an overall conference has fallen way behind other Power Five conferences in coaches' compensation. That will not change till at least 2024, when a new TV deal is in place. How can you compete with top programs with that? How do we combat that?

My plan is to have the strongest staff in the Pac-12 Conference and a coaches' pay pool that rivals the coaching staffs in the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten. I plan to do this by being the lowest-paid head coach in the conference and surrounding myself with the top-tier coaches in an effort to recruit the best players in the country. Players we can coach to win together.

While I can’t tell you everything about the staff, what I can tell you is the group we are assembling will rival any staff in the conference from top to bottom. The offense will be lead Norm Chow, one of the most experienced and best offensive minds in football. Norm has won national championships and coached multiple Heisman Trophy winners. Our defense will be led by one of the best up-and-coming defensive coordinators in college football who is also an excellent recruiter. This staff will include Super Bowl champions; I am not just trying to help turn these players into great players, I am trying to make them become great men.

Fans lean over the rail while trying to get an autograph from corner back Antoine Cason, center, prior to the start of the “Meet the Team” scrimmage at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Ariz., Saturday Aug. 18, 2007.

In the words of Vince Lombardi, “There is only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything.”

I’m ready to give everything I have to help turn this program around. I’m ready to lead the Wildcats as their next head coach and assemble the best coaching staff in the PAC-12.

Dave Heeke has said he wants a guy that will be an Arizona guy, a guy with passion, a guy who wants to be here, a guy who can teach young men how to succeed on and off the field, a guy who wants to take Arizona to the next level, and I am that guy.

I challenge him to find some who is more of a Wildcat than me.

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