Will Cain on taping new Fox show in Dallas, Cowboys head coach search and Pete Hegseth

When he was younger, Will Cain voraciously consumed media and any information about the moguls of that business. The native of Sherman, a town an hour north of Dallas, remembers reading the biographies of former newspaper investor Warren Buffett and USA Today founder Al Neuharth.

After Cain graduated in 2000 from the University of Texas law school, he sought to emulate their entrepreneurial spirit with media ventures of his own.

He started a number of small-town newspapers in North Texas and the Hill Country. He covered city council and school board meetings. He rolled newspapers to be delivered. For a few years, he also ran a media company centered around the booming market of quinceañeras, a coming-of-age celebration for Hispanic girls.

But, in 2008, the political landscape shifted and his career changed in turn. Cain felt compelled by the presidential race between John McCain and Barack Obama to break into TV news commentary.

“It was a fork in the road for America on what kind of country this moment represented. I didn’t feel like I was seeing that conversation in a way that was worthy on television,” the 49-year-old said recently by phone.

Over a decade later, Cain will anchor a Fox News weekday show premiering on Jan. 21 with the sort of “curious and opinionated” approach he believes the news demands. The Will Cain Show, which replaces the 3 p.m. weekday slot formerly held by Neil Cavuto, will draw on its host’s background across sports, law, politics, culture and business. It will be taped in Dallas, where Cain lives with his family.

“I’ve been doing this for 14, 15 years. It’s by all means not an overnight success,” he said, referring to his journey from Irving-based Blaze Media to ESPN and most recently Fox & Friends Weekend.

“My currency is authenticity — just being real. I’m not afraid of somebody telling me I’m wrong. I’m not afraid of the debate,” he said.

For those who haven’t made the drive up to Sherman, what’s your hometown like?

It was pretty idyllic. It was like 30,000 people. Growing up in a place like Sherman, where there’s one high school, it creates a sense of community. Everybody’s together — Black, white, rich, poor — we grew up together. It provided me with a real sense of roots and understanding of America. With the growth of TI [Texas Instruments] and GlobiTech, there are thousands of jobs coming to Sherman in the next five to 10 years. The population is going to boom and explode. My hope for Sherman is it retains its sense of identity.

Your new show will be based in Dallas. Are you excited about that?

I love Texas. My wife and I are both from Texas. We always envisioned our life ending up back in Texas. We had the fortune of being able to do that in the beginning of 2021. I had to commute to New York, but we reestablished our life here in Texas. My boys go to school here. My sons play Friday night football. This is my home.

What do you love about Texas specifically?

Well, this isn’t the answer, but I’ll tell you. I remember the first time I cried was in [1982] when Dwight Clark caught a touchdown in the NFC Championship Game over Everson Walls’ fingers. I am a die-hard Cowboys, Longhorns, Mavericks, Rangers, Stars fan.

But what I love about Texas — I could do an hour podcast on this. First of all, like most things that you love, they defy some sense of explanation. It’s just in me. It’s in my bones. It’s in my blood. It’s not the most beautiful place in the world. We don’t have mountains like Colorado’s. We don’t have an ocean like California’s. But Texas is the biggest distillation of America. It is the most entrepreneurial place in America. We were the Republic. We fought for our independence and then decided to join the United States of America. We became Americans by choice.

In 2018, when you were interviewed by The Washington Post, you said ESPN didn’t have a voice like yours at the time, referring to your conservative viewpoint. How do you see your voice in the Fox lineup?

Well … my ideological bent is certainly conservative. And the only reason you hear me hesitating is, we’re in this weird moment of flux and we have been for a while. Our debates are beyond the traditional political spectrum. It’s not really left and right. It’s a false prism we’ve been presented. There’s a weird scramble of everything that’s hard to analyze. When you say how will my voice stand out in a place like this, the only answer I can give you is [for it] to be authentically mine. I’m trying to sort this out like everybody else.

You also mentioned in that 2018 interview that people had presumptions about you because of your point of view. What are those presumptions?

I don’t know, what are those presumptions? [Laughs.]

You were referring to people viewing you at ESPN as the person for the conservative viewpoint.

ESPN went down a path during that time, where every single voice, when there was an intersection between sports and culture or sports and politics, shared the same point of view. It was almost always from the left. I don’t come at things from the left, so my voice stood out. But that didn’t mean that every single issue that came up, you could go, Will’s for sure going to do the talking point on that side. I’m not here for a set of talking points. I’m here to try to authentically analyze this the best that I can and share with America what I think is the truth.

I hear you want to invite country music stars on your Fox show and make the program fun.

I take what I say very seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously. I’m not a newscaster that’s unassailable. It’s going to be casual and professional. It’s going to be curious and opinionated. It’s going to be immediate and news breaking and also deep with analysis to help people understand why the news matters.

I want to ask about two new stories of the moment starting with the Cowboys search for a head coach. What names that have been floated stand out to you?

Deion Sanders. I’ve said on Fox that Deion was overhyped at the beginning of his career at Colorado. Coaching at the Cowboys is hard and we know why because of the ownership structure. I think with his personality, he’s definitely a good coach, that’s definitely clear — his ability to connect generationally, and his relationship with Jerry Jones. Of all the people you could think of, Jerry would be the most deferential to Deion.

I imagine you saw the confirmation hearing of your former Fox colleague Pete Hegseth (President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary)? What was your reaction watching that unfold?

Pride. I’m so proud of him. He’s such an awesome guy. That’s the guy that I’ve known for a decade. That I sat next to every week for five years. He knows why he believes what he believes.

There was a clear attempt to smear him personally. That doesn’t suggest that they’re not legitimate questions to ask him, but look at how almost all the other hearings have gone. That one was a performance for those that are opposed to Pete. He became target number one for his opposition — for Trump’s opposition.