Wade Phillips

Wade Phillips

Phillips while head coach of the Cowboys
Current position
Title	Defensive coordinator
Team	Denver Broncos
Personal information
Date of birth	(1947-06-21) June 21, 1947
Place of birth	Orange, Texas, USA
Career information
Position(s)	Linebacker
College	Houston
Head coaching record
Regular season	82–61 (.573)
Postseason	1–5 (.167)
Career record	83–66–0 (.557)
Stats
Coaching stats (NFL)	Pro Football Reference
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1969 Houston (graduate assistant) 1970–1972 Lutcher Stark HS (defensive coordinator) 1973–1974 Oklahoma State (linebackers) 1975 Kansas (defensive line) 1976–1980 Houston Oilers (def. line) 1981–1985 New Orleans Saints (def. coord.) 1985 New Orleans Saints (interim head coach) 1986–1988 Philadelphia Eagles (def. coord.) 1989–1992 Denver Broncos (def. coord.) 1993–1994 Denver Broncos (head coach) 1995–1997 Buffalo Bills (def. coord.) 1998–2000 Buffalo Bills (head coach) 2002–2003 Atlanta Falcons (def. coord.) 2003 Atlanta Falcons (interim head coach) 2004–2006 San Diego Chargers (def. coord.) 2007–2010 Dallas Cowboys (head coach) 2011–2013 Houston Texans (def. coord.) 2013 Houston Texans (interim head coach) 2015–present Denver Broncos (def. coord.)

Harold Wade Phillips (born June 21, 1947) is the defensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos. He is the former head coach of the National Football League's Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, and Dallas Cowboys. He was also an interim head coach for the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and the Houston Texans. His career winning percentage as a head coach is .562.

Personal life

Wade is the son of former NFL coach Bum Phillips and Helen Wilson Phillips. He adored his father, both personally and professionally, stating, “I was blessed to have him as a father and coach. I got to coach with him for 11 years. He taught me everything I know about coaching. He taught me right and wrong. He taught me to enjoy life.” Wade and wife Laurie met in 1964 at Port Neches–Groves High School, where he was the quarterback of the football team and she was the head cheerleader; they have a daughter, Tracy, an actress, dancer and choreographer living in Southern California, and a son, Wes, who is the tight ends coach for the Washington Redskins.

Wade has said this on his personal drive: "Winning is why we play and coach—our team and our fans is why we continue that quest."

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 held the school record for career assisted tackles (228) until 2011 when the record was broken by Marcus McGraw.

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 the former Lutcher Stark High School (now West Orange-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 under head coach Bud Moore .

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.

Phillips enjoyed a successful coaching stop 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. Prior to the game, Wade caused a controversy when he inserted Rob Johnson as starting quarterback, 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.

Before the 2007 season, Phillips was named the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, replacing the retired Bill Parcells. This was the most successful coaching stop for Phillips. 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 0–5. The Cowboys failed to make the playoffs in 2008, as the season ended with a 44–6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, preventing a wild card 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. In the 2009-10 playoffs, Phillips's Cowboys defeated the Eagles in the wild card round, ending the club's 12 year playoff win drought (6 games total, Phillips was only coach for one of those losses) and earning Phillips his first playoff win. Following the 2009 season, Phillips signed a contract extension through the 2011 season. However, he was fired by the Cowboys on 8 November 2010 following the second worst start in franchise history (one win in their first eight games) punctuated by a 45–7 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Prior to the 2011 season, Phillips was hired as the defensive coordinator of the Houston Texans replacing Frank Bush, who was released by Texans owner Bob McNair. The Texans defense made major improvements on defense in Phillips's first year calling Houston's defense. Houston allowed the fourth-fewest points in the league in 2011 (compared to fourth most in 2010), the second-fewest yards allowed (third-most in 2010) and third-fewest yards per play (4.8, compared to 6.0, second-worst in 2010). On 3 November 2013, Texans Head Coach Gary Kubiak collapsed at the end of the first half of the Texans-Colts game, he was then hospitalized at a local hospital. In Kubiak's absence, Phillips was given the head coaching duties as the acting head coach for the remainder of the game. On 6 November 2013, the Texans, and Kubiak decided to temporarily hand Phillips the head coaching duties, and named him the interim head coach until Kubiak was medically cleared to return. Exactly one month later, Kubiak was fired after his team had lost 11 games in a row. Once again, Phillips served as interim head coach for the Texans until the end of the season, when former Penn State head coach and New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien was hired as the new head coach.

On 28 January 2015, it was announced Phillips would join Gary Kubiak's staff at the Denver Broncos as the defensive coordinator.

Head coaching record

Team	Year	Regular Season					Post Season
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
NO*	1985	1	3	0	.250	3rd in NFC West	–	–	–	–
NO Total		1	3	0	.250		–	–	–
DEN	1993	9	7	0	.562	3rd in AFC West	0	1	.000	Lost to Los Angeles Raiders in AFC Wild-Card Game
DEN	1994	7	9	0	.437	4th in AFC West	–	–	–	–
DEN Total		16	16	0	.500		0	1	.000
BUF	1998	10	6	0	.625	3rd in AFC East	0	1	.000	Lost to Miami Dolphins in AFC Wild-Card Game
BUF	1999	11	5	0	.687	2nd in AFC East	0	1	.000	Lost to Tennessee Titans in AFC Wild-Card Game
BUF	2000	8	8	0	.500	4th in AFC East	–	–	–	–
BUF Total		29	19	0	.604		0	2	.000
ATL*	2003	2	1	0	.667	4th in NFC South	–	–	–	–
ATL Total		2	1	0	.667		–	–	–
DAL	2007	13	3	0	.813	1st in NFC East	0	1	.000	Lost to New York Giants in NFC Divisional Game
DAL	2008	9	7	0	.562	3rd in NFC East	–	–	–	–
DAL	2009	11	5	0	.687	1st in NFC East	1	1	.500	Lost to the Minnesota Vikings in NFC Divisional Game
DAL	2010	1	7	0	.125	3rd in NFC East	–	–	–	Fired in mid-season
DAL Total		34	22	0	.607		1	2	.333
HOU*	2013	0	3	0	.000	4th in AFC South	–	–	–	–
HOU Total		0	3	0	.000		–	–	–
Total		82	64	0	.562		1	5	.167

* - Interim head coach

External links

• Official website
• Wade Phillips on Twitter

Sporting positions
Preceded by Paul Wiggin	New Orleans Saints Defensive Coordinator 1981–1985	Succeeded by Steve Sidwell
Preceded by Marion Campbell	Philadelphia Eagles Defensive Coordinator 1986–1988	Succeeded by Jeff Fisher
Preceded by Joe Collier	Denver Broncos Defensive Coordinator 1989–1992	Succeeded by Charlie Waters
Preceded by Walt Corey	Buffalo Bills Defensive Coordinator 1995–1997	Succeeded by Ted Cottrell
Preceded by Don Blackmon	Atlanta Falcons Defensive Coordinator 2002–2003	Succeeded by Ed Donatell
Preceded by Dale Lindsey	San Diego Chargers Defensive Coordinator 2003–2006	Succeeded by Ted Cottrell
Preceded by Brian Stewart	Dallas Cowboys Defensive Coordinator 2009–2010	Succeeded by Paul Pasqualoni
Preceded by Frank Bush	Houston Texans Defensive Coordinator 2011–2013	Succeeded by Romeo Crennel
Preceded by Jack Del Rio	Denver Broncos Defensive Coordinator 2015-present	Succeeded by N/A