Wade Phillips was named the seventh coach in Dallas Cowboys history on February 8, 2007. A native Texan with a rich appreciation for the game of football in his home state, Phillips's coaching journey includes stops at the high school, collegiate and professional levels in the Lone Star State. Phillips brings 30 years of NFL coaching experience to the Cowboys - including five as an NFL head coach and 20 as a defensive coordinator.
In his five years as a head coach, Phillips produced a 45-35 record and guided his teams to three playoff appearances. He has had only one non-winning season as a head coach. His .596 career winning percentage in the regular season is already in the top 10 among active NFL head coaches with four-or-more years of head coaching experience entering the 2007 season. He is just behind Brian Billick (.586) and Bill Belichick (.578) on that list.
Phillips has a wealth of NFL experience both as a defensive coordinator and head coach. One of Phillips's strengths has been improving the teams he works with from Day One. The last six times he has taken over as a head coach or defensive coordinator, his new team has reached the playoffs in his first season. In all six of those instances, he has never joined a team that was coming off a winning record. Not just a great defensive mind, in four of his five years as a head coach, his teams ranked in the top 10 on offense.
Phillips understands what it takes to be successful. Over the last 18 years as a head coach or coordinator, he has been a part of only four teams that have had non-winning records. During that time he has worked with a defense that ranked in the NFL's top 10 eight times. In six of the last eight years he has worked with a defense that ranked in the NFL's top 10 against the run.
For the past three seasons, Phillips has served as the defensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers (2004-2006). A master of the 3-4 defensive scheme, Phillips directed a unit that improved each season, moving from 18th in the NFL in total defense in his first season to 13th in 2005 and then 10th in 2006. His 2005 unit was the NFL's stingiest against the run, leading the league while holding opponents to a mere 84.3 yards-per-game. In his first year in San Diego, the Chargers were even stingier, allowing just 81.7 yards-per-game to rank third in the league.
The Chargers aggressive defense also cranked out a league-high 61 sacks in 2006, the second most in club history. It was the second straight year the defense had shown improvement in that category, going from 29 sacks in 2004 to 46 sacks in 2005 to the breakout year in 2006. Two-time Pro Bowl linebacker Shawne Merriman was the leader of that group, topping the NFL with 17 sacks last year.
When the Chargers won the AFC West and qualified for the playoffs in 2004 on the heels of a 4-12 season in 2003, Phillips kept his streak intact of helping to turn teams with non-winning records into playoff participants the following year.
At the end of his two-year term (2002-03) as defensive coordinator in Atlanta, he served as the interim head coach for the Falcons final three games of the 2003 season after Dan Reeves was released from his contract on December 10. Phillips posted a record of 2-1 as Atlanta's head coach, highlighted by a 30-28 victory at Tampa Bay that knocked the defending Super Bowl champions out of playoff contention.
During the 1998-2000 seasons as head coach in Buffalo, the Bills compiled a regular season record of 29-19. Phillips took the reigns after a disappointing 6-10 finish in 1997 and reversed the team's fortunes by leading it to a 10-6 record and the playoffs in 1998. It was the most successful campaign of any first-year head coach in Bills history. His 1999 team led the NFL in total defense, went 11-5 and earned another trip to the postseason. The Bills finished 8-8 in 2002 - his last season in Buffalo. The Bills were 16-9 under Phillips in his three years at the helm after the start of November.
Phillips was named Denver's head coach on January 25, 1993 after serving as defensive coordinator the previous four seasons. In his first year as head coach (1993) future Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway enjoyed the finest season of his career to that point with career-high figures for completions (348), percentage (.632), yardage (4,030) and his lowest single season interception total (10).
Phillips's professional coaching career began in Houston in 1976 as the linebackers coach under his father, longtime NFL coach Bum Phillips.
Wade Phillips was born June 21, 1947 in Orange, Texas. He was a three-year starter at linebacker for the University of Houston from 1966-68 after a standout career at Port Neches-Groves High School in Port Neches, Texas. Phillips and wife Laurie have one son, Wesley who is an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, and a daughter, Tracy, who is a professional actress, dancer and choreographer in Hollywood, California.
