Eric Sorenson
Cameron Cox has been a familiar name, and face, in the Arizona high school football community for over a decade.
The KPNX Channel 12 sport anchor, and host of the iconic “Friday Night Fever,” sat down with “Zone Read” to discuss a myriad of topics in, and around, Arizona prep football.
Your previous media stop was San Antonio. What’s the story behind the story of you landing at Channel 12? “My contract was up in San Antonio, and I was ready to take the next jump in my career. I was out of work for four months. It was the longest four months ever.
“I just happened to email my old producer, Jeff Schneider, out of the blue and that got the talks rolling. I interviewed in October of 2014, and didn’t a call back [for a month]. They finally called, offered me the job. I moved here on Halloween of 2014, and I’ve been here almost 12 years now, Eric.”
I think the first time you and I met was at the ASU-Duke Sun Bowl in El Paso in, what, 2014? “Yep! You want to know how much of an idiot I was? This is how dumb I was. I thought, ‘December! Sun Bowl! Gunna be sunny.’ Didn’t even look at the weather.
“So, I’m driving to El Paso and it starts snowing. I didn’t pack any warm clothes. I think I packed shorts, t-shirts, maybe a light jacket. I get to El Paso and I am freezing. Freezing!
“I had to go to Wal-Mart and buy a whole new wardrobe for that trip. I didn’t know El Paso got that cold.”
That’s a great story. Lesson learned, right? What is your favorite part about covering high school football here in Arizona? “The people. The coaches. We really have some unbelievable coaches here. It’s unbelievable to get to know them. Everybody has a different story. Everybody has a different journey. What I didn’t realize when I got here that I realize now is, everybody is connected through some other job, through some other school.
“We just have some unbelievable people, unbelievable leaders in this state. I hope players and parents realize how much time and effort they put into their kids because I don’t think they do sometimes, and that kind of just hurts my heart. They coaches are really good people, really good leaders of men.
“To see these kids succeed and grow and overcome adversity…and then to see the growth of Arizona high school football from when I got here.
“Arizona high school football has arrived.”
You mentioned how AZHS football has been elevated. No one can even argue that. However, with all this attention comes heightened social media and “hype trains.” Is the popularity and onslaught of social media good, or bad? “[pause, then laughing] It’s good. Don’t get me wrong. It’s the world we live in, Eric, and we’re not going to put it back in Pandora’s Box.
“The day and age of sports, and how we consume them, and how people cover things, is ever-changing.
“Social media is cool for these programs because it gives them even greater exposure than us just getting out there, than [Eric] just getting out there. I think it’s neat when programs promote their own kids. I think it’s neat when they tell the stories of their own kids.
“The flip side to that is it’s become a very lucrative business, and you wonder the intentions of some of those businesses. There are a lot of good people who do a lot of good things and cover high school football really well in this Valley, but it’s just this juggernaut of clicks, and videos, and all kinds of things.
“It’s a very careful space that I encourage for parents to monitor and parents to watch. Do I think kids should have social media growing up in high school? Yes. Do I think parents should be on top of it? Yes. 100 percent.”
If you were to give David Hines a letter grade for his tenure as the AIA Executive Director, what would it be, and why? “Ohhhh. I would give David, gosh, I think the AIA has done a good job, I will say that. I’ll give David a B to an A, and I’ll say that because they’re tasked with an impossible situation here in Arizona that most of the other states don’t have to deal with, especially with those without really elite high school football, is open enrollment. As long as kids can decide where they want to go to school, to me makes the AIA’s job a lot harder to enforce a lot of different things. I think it’s just a lot harder for the AIA to do their job.
“For the circumstances that they have dealt with, I’d think it’s a B. Do I wish they would handle individual situations better? Yes. But I also understand they don’t have this mega staff that everybody thinks they have.
“I have always enjoyed my time with David. He’s been very insightful and helpful to me. He’s someone I can call at 11 o’clock at night with a question…it’s been an absolute joy to work with him.”
You’ve been a part of history at Channel 12 with your involvement with “Friday Night Fever” – an iconic show, without question. When you arrived here in the Valley, did you have any idea just how popular that show was? “You’d heard of it. That was one of their selling points. They were like, ‘Hey, you’re going to get to be a part of this really cool show.’ I think it was going on 25 years when I got here, or something like that.
“The best part was I was able to be a part of high school football shows in previous markets in Louisiana and San Antonio. Yeah, the was one of the selling points to get here, and it’s been really cool to see how much it means to the community, how much it’s grown, how much we continue to do more and more.
“That show, Eric, is probably one of the proudest things I’ve been a part of here at Channel 12 just because the people that have started it, the people that have done it, the people who have came before me. It’s extremely important that that show continues to grow and continues to be a staple in the community every year.”
Do you feel any pressure, as the host of “Friday Night Fever,” to keep that show evolving and growing, considering its history of success? “I’ll say this, no I don’t feel any pressure to keep it what is, because it’s in the DNA. That’s just what we do. We cover high school football. We want to give them a show every Friday night that recaps all the action from that night and give them some cool stories. It’s the coolest thing ever.
“I work with two really good people in Lina Washington and Jake Garcia. That show takes so many people. The people that work so hard to put that show on every Friday night. Those are the faces. It makes a bunch of faces to pull off that show.”
I wrote about this earlier this summer. Where are we in terms of high school football on a national scale? Are we a top five state with the likes of Florida, Texas, California, Georgia, etc.? Or do you feel Arizona is somewhere in that second tier? “Just so we’re clear, we’re in the Top 5. We are in the Top 5.”
You really feel that way? “I honestly feel that way. Florida. Georgia. Texas. California. Arizona. Arizona is number 5. Period.
“The talent here is that good. I really believe that. The overall talent we have in this state, I would stack up against anybody in the country.
“And that’s coming from someone who’s changed, too. I probably used to say that Arizona was the second tier when it came to a lot of that stuff 10 years ago, but it’s changed, man.”
I think you have more frequent flier miles in the fall than [anyone]. Take us through Cam Cox’s 72-hour Friday night to Sunday night schedule when the Cardinals are on the road. “It is a very long weekend, don’t get me wrong. The travel is definitely a lot.
“So, Fridays are obviously very long days. I get to the office at around noon. We work til 12:30, 1:00AM. Get home at 1:30 or 2:00AM. Try to go to bed and get some sleep.
“I look to book early flights the next day when the Cardinals are on the road, just so I can get to the city. Flying can always be 50/50. I get to the airport [Saturday morning] at around 5:30, catch a 6:30 or 7:00 flight and fly to whatever city. Hit the ground running. You go shoot a little bit in the city. Give fans the feel like they’re there with you. Go to bed kind of early Saturday night.
“Then, Sunday is all day at the NFL stadium. We’re usually the last ones to leave, too, because we’re on the west coast, time change, shows. It’s just later. You’re there all day. You work another 12-15 hour day.
“I like getting back to Phoenix early Monday so I can have my day and do what I want. I book an early flight Monday morning and get back here before lunch.”
So, from Friday night until Monday morning you’re getting about a combined 12 hours of sleep in three nights? Maybe? “Yep, maybe 15. 15 sounds about right [laughing]. That’s the joy, Eric! That’s the joy!”
