Will Cain is an American columnist, political analyst, and sports commentator. He is currently the new co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend on Fox News. He was the host of The Will Cain Show on ESPN Radio, which ran from January 2, 2018, to June 26, 2020. He has been a contributor for ESPN since March 2015, working with the features unit and and appearing on First Take. He has been a contributor for The Blaze and CNN, appearing frequently on Soledad O'Brien's morning program Starting Point.
Early life and education
Cain was born and raised in Sherman, Texas, near Dallas. Attending Pepperdine University, Cain played one year on the water polo team and graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications in 1997. On the Pepperdine water polo team, Cain was a walk-on who scored his only goal in 1996, in a game against UC Santa Barbara. Cain said of the experience in 2010, "Pepperdine water polo was extremely accommodating in its development of a walk-on such as me, and that's something positively unique about this program. I almost went to USC, and I'm sure that if I did have a water polo career there it would have been much shorter." In 2000, Cain completed his J.D. degree at the University of Texas School of Law. After law school, Cain moved to a ranch in Montana, where he worked as a ranch hand while trying to write a book.
Media career
Following the death of his father in 2001, Cain returned to the Dallas area to help care for his younger brother. While in Texas, Cain bought two community newspapers and started others before selling them to Stephens Media, publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Around 2006, Cain founded Quince Media, which published a magazine, website, and expos about quinceañeras. Cain previously worked as a fill-in host for CNN's In the Arena, where he co-hosted the program with E.D. Hill from February 28, 2011 to August 5, 2011. Cain began working at ESPN in 2015 as a radio personality as a fill in for ESPN Radio anchors. He was a frequent contributor to Outside the Lines and eventually became a fill-in host and frequent guest on First Take. Cain then was named co-host of The Ryen Russillo Show but Russillo soon left the show. Cain began hosting his own radio show on ESPN Radio in 2018. The Washington Post observed about Cain's ESPN presence in 2018: "Cain's growing profile comes amid consistent charges of liberal bias at ESPN for its coverage of social and political issues in sports." On April 29, 2020, The Washington Post reported that Cain would be leaving ESPN to move to Fox News, where he'd return to covering politics. Cain confirmed the news on June 29, 2020, with his first appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend set for August 15. His last appearance on First Take came June 24, and his final episode of The Will Cain Show aired on June 26.
Viewpoints
In 2018, The Washington Post labeled Cain as one of ESPN's most conservative voices. Cain told the paper, "Has being conservative helped me since I've been here? Of course. ESPN doesn't have a voice like mine." The Washington Post also wrote that Cain "has no place in the current political debate — he does not support Donald Trump| Trump — and although his show sticks mostly to sports, politics still animate him." Cain had been critical of Trump as early as 2011 while he was with CNN, and revealed on a January 2017 episode of First Take that he did not vote for him in the 2016 election. Cain embraces debate and hearing multiple perspectives on issues, telling Sporting News in 2018, "I want The Will Cain Show to be a place where nothing goes unchecked, nothing goes unchallenged. Too much of our media, and not just sports media, but media in general, is one where the people with the voices live in glass houses. They feel like their opinions are either above challenge or that they're incapable of withstanding challenge." Despite frequently clashing with the viewpoints of other ESPN analysts, Cain was generally well-respected by his ESPN colleagues. Bomani Jones said of Cain, "Will is willing to have an exchange of ideas back-and-forth. I appreciate that and I respect that.... I think Will does deserve a little bit more credit." Domonique Foxworth also applauded Cain for being willing to discuss differing viewpoints, saying, "So many people who are on the air have similar feelings but are afraid to say them. I appreciate that Will is not afraid to say them and is willing to engage with them."
Controversies
On March 11, 2019, Cain likened Antonio Brown's contract requests during Brown's trade to the Oakland Raiders as being "like a suicide bomber" while discussing the trade on First Take, causing some media backlash on multiple outlets.
