One of the more recognizable names in Arizona basketball has returned home to take the next major step in his basketball career. Former Corona del Sol High School standout Casey Benson has been named as an assistant coach for the Arizona State University men’s basketball program under new Sun Devils Head Coach Randy Bennett. Arizona State officially announced Benson’s hiring on August 21, adding the Valley native to Bennett’s first coaching staff in Tempe. For Benson, the opportunity represents much more than simply another coaching position. It is a homecoming for one of the most accomplished high school basketball players to come out of Arizona during the modern era.
Benson starred at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, where he was instrumental in one of the most dominant runs in Arizona high school basketball history. Benson helped lead the Aztecs to three consecutive Division I state championships and finished his Corona career with 2,095 points, while becoming the school’s all-time assists leader. As a senior in 2013-14, Benson averaged 17.8 points, 4.5 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, while shooting 53.6 percent from the field. He was named both the 2014 Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year and Arizona Republic Player of the Year.
Following his tremendous high school career, Benson signed with the University of Oregon and played three seasons for Head Coach Dana Altman. Benson developed into one of the nation’s most efficient point guards during his time with the Ducks. As a sophomore, he led the nation with an impressive 4.88-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, and by the conclusion of his Oregon career, he had appeared in (113) games and accumulated 90 victories in a Ducks uniform.
His junior season would become particularly memorable. Benson helped Oregon advance all the way to the 2017 NCAA Final Four, the Ducks’ first Final Four appearance since 1939. Making the accomplishment even more special for Benson, the Final Four was played back home in Arizona. He scored five points and grabbed three rebounds in Oregon’s national semifinal against eventual national champion North Carolina.
After graduating from Oregon in three years, Benson returned home as a graduate transfer and completed his collegiate career at Grand Canyon University. Benson started all 34 games during the 2017-18 season, helping GCU finish 22-12, reach the WAC Tournament championship game, and earn a postseason appearance in the College Basketball Invitational. His return to GCU also provided Benson with an opportunity to work alongside his older brother, T.J. Benson, who was an assistant coach for the Lopes at the time.
Following his college career, Casey embarked on an extensive professional career overseas. He spent seven years playing professionally in Europe, making stops in Slovenia, Finland, Bulgaria, Belgium and Germany before eventually concluding his playing career and transitioning into coaching and basketball administration.
Most recently, Benson served as athletic director and an assistant coach at Dream City Christian Prep, where he worked with a nationally competitive prep program and a roster filled with high-level college prospects. That experience allowed Benson to begin developing his coaching career while also utilizing the tremendous relationships he has built throughout Arizona and nationally during his playing career.
Basketball has always been a family affair for the Bensons. Casey’s older brother, T.J. Benson, has developed an impressive coaching career of his own and is currently an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Arizona under Head Coach Tommy Lloyd. T.J. previously spent seven seasons at Grand Canyon as an assistant coach and director of operations before joining Gonzaga as coordinator of basketball administration. He joined Arizona’s staff in 2021 and was later elevated to assistant coach.
T.J. also enjoyed a successful playing career, competing collegiately at Weber State and Grand Canyon before playing professionally in Brazil. His coaching journey has made him one of the state’s more respected young college basketball coaches and recruiters.
The foundation for both Casey and T.J. was established by their father, Tim Benson, who has been a fixture around Arizona basketball for decades. Tim Benson has had a tremendous impact on basketball in the state, assisting and mentoring numerous student-athletes throughout the years and helping young players find opportunities to continue their basketball careers at the collegiate level. He has also been influential in the growth and success of the Dream City Christian Prep basketball program.
The Benson family’s basketball influence in Arizona now stretches across generations and throughout the state’s basketball landscape. With T.J. coaching at the University of Arizona and Casey now joining Arizona State, the brothers have reached an impressive level in their respective coaching careers.
For Casey Benson, however, there is something particularly fitting about this opportunity. He grew up in Tempe. He became an Arizona high school basketball legend at Corona del Sol. He left home to play on college basketball’s biggest stage at Oregon, returned to the Valley to finish his career at Grand Canyon, traveled throughout Europe as a professional and eventually returned to Arizona to begin the next phase of his basketball life. Now his journey has brought him almost directly back to where it started.
Benson will have an opportunity to recruit the same state where he developed into one of Arizona’s elite high school prospects, while working under Bennett as the veteran head coach begins a new era of Sun Devil basketball. For someone who has spent virtually his entire life around the game, Casey Benson’s hiring at Arizona State is another significant accomplishment for the Benson family, and another tremendous chapter in an Arizona basketball story that continues to be written.
