Wade Phillips

Wade Phillips
Date of birth	June 21, 1947 (1947-06-21) (age 62)
Place of birth	Orange, Texas
Position(s)	Head Coach Linebacker
College	Houston
Career record	61-42-0 (Regular Season) 0–4 (Postseason) 61-46-0 (Overall)
Coaching stats	Pro Football Reference
Coaching stats	DatabaseFootball
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1969 1970–1972 1973–1974 1975 1976–1980 1981–1985 1985 1986-1988 1989-1992 1993–1994 1995–1997 1998–2000 2002–2003 2003 2004–2006 2007-2008 2009-present	University of Houston (graduate assistant) West Orange-Stark High School (defensive coordinator) Oklahoma State University (linebackers coach) University of Kansas (defensive line coach) Houston Oilers (defensive line coach) New Orleans Saints (defensive coordinator) New Orleans Saints (interim head coach) Philadelphia Eagles (defensive coordinator) Denver Broncos (defensive coordinator) Denver Broncos (head coach) Buffalo Bills (defensive coordinator) Buffalo Bills (head coach) Atlanta Falcons (defensive coordinator) Atlanta Falcons (interim head coach) San Diego Chargers (defensive coordinator) Dallas Cowboys (head coach) Dallas Cowboys (head coach) (defensive coordinator)

Wade Allen Phillips (born June 21, 1947 in Orange, Texas) is the head coach for the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys. He is also a former head coach of the New Orleans Saints, where his record was 1–3, the Denver Broncos, where his record was 16–17, the Buffalo Bills, where he was 29-21 and led the Bills to the playoffs in two of three seasons, and the Atlanta Falcons where he posted a 2-1 mark. His career winning percentage as a head coach is .596.

Personal life

Wade is the son of former NFL coach Bum Phillips. Wade and wife Laurie have two children together. His daughter, dancer/choreographer Tracy Phillips, appeared as Helena in My Chemical Romance's music video for the song "Helena"^[1]; his son, Wes Phillips, is an assistant coach with the Cowboys.

Playing career

Phillips attended Port Neches-Groves High School in Port Neches, Texas, and went on to the University of Houston, where he was a three-year starter at linebacker from 1966–68. He still holds the school record for career assisted tackles (228).^[2]

Coaching career

Phillips began his coaching career as graduate assistant to Bill Yeoman at the University of Houston in 1969. From 1970–72 he served as defensive coordinator at Stark High School in Orange, Texas. He then coached the linebackers at Oklahoma State University from 1973–1974, under his father who was OSU defensive coordinator at that time. In 1975, Phillips coached the defensive line at the University of Kansas.

NFL coaching

Phillips began his professional coaching career in Houston as the linebackers coach in 1976 for the team coached by his father, as well as defensive line coach in 1977–1980. He remained on his father's staff as the pair headed for New Orleans. Bum stepped down as head coach of a struggling Saints team in late 1985, and Wade stepped in as interim head coach. He spent the next three years as the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles and then four more in the same position for the Denver Broncos. Phillips replaced Dan Reeves as head coach for the Broncos in 1993, but was fired after a mediocre 1994 season in which management felt he lost control of the team.

The most successful coaching stop for Phillips was at Buffalo. He always kept the team competitive and in the playoff hunt. A loss to the Titans in the 1999 playoffs haunted Phillips for the rest of his time at Buffalo. In this same season he caused a controversy when he inserted Rob Johnson as starting quarterback at the last game of the season, after Doug Flutie was the starter the whole year and led the team to the playoffs.

He has the distinction of having been replaced by a father and a son from two head coaching positions – by Jim Mora at the New Orleans Saints and by Jim Mora Jr. at the Atlanta Falcons. He also has twice replaced Dan Reeves as a head coach.

On February 8, 2007, he was named the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, replacing the retired Bill Parcells. He was chosen after Jerry Jones interviewed 10 potential replacements, including former Cowboys and former San Francisco 49ers Offensive Coordinator Norv Turner, former Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera and former Cowboys quarterback Jason Garrett. In the 2007 NFL Playoffs he led the Cowboys to another playoff loss, making his playoff record 0–4. The Cowboys failed to make the playoffs in 2008. The season ended with a 44-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, preventing a wildcard playoff berth.

Prior to the 2009 season, Phillips also took over as defensive coordinator, replacing the fired Brian Stewart. Phillips called defensive plays for the final 10 games of the 2008 season after Stewart was stripped of the responsibilities.^[3]

Head coaching record

Coaching tree

NFL head coaches under whom Wade Phillips has served:

• Bum Phillips, Houston Oilers (1976–1980), New Orleans Saints (1981–1985)
• Buddy Ryan, Philadelphia Eagles (1986–1988)
• Dan Reeves, Denver Broncos (1989–1992), Atlanta Falcons (2002–2003)
• Marty Schottenheimer, San Diego Chargers (2004–2006)

Following first head-coaching job:

• Marv Levy, Buffalo Bills (1995–1997)

Assistant coaches under Wade Phillips whom have become NFL head coaches:

• Jim Fassel, New York Giants (1997–2003)

References

External links

• Official Dallas Cowboys bio
• Wade Phillips Website