ASSOCIATED
PRESS. Houston,
TX, Monday, January 10, 2011.
Wade Phillips doesn’t expect to be a head
coach again, and that’s fine. He’s happy to
finally be working close to where he grew
up.
Phillips
reported to work Monday for his first day as
the Houston Texans’ defensive coordinator,
meeting with coach Gary Kubiak to talk about
staff vacancies.
Phillips was
hired last week, two days after Kubiak fired
defensive coordinator Frank Bush, secondary
coach David Gibbs, linebackers coach Johnny
Holland and assistant linebackers coach
Robert Saleh.
Kubiak said
rounding out the new staff could “take some
time,” because some of the targets are
working for other teams. He’s asked teams
for permission to speak to some coaches, but
he wouldn’t disclose names.
The Texans
(6-10) lost eight of their last 10 games,
mostly due to a defense that ranked 30th
overall and last against the pass.
Phillips, 63,
was fired as the head coach in Dallas after
the Cowboys started 1-7. His career record
is 83-64, but Phillips isn’t anticipating
any more head coaching offers coming his
way.
“It’s
perception, sometimes, more than reality,”
Phillips said. “I’ve won a lot of games in
this league and I have a really high winning
percentage. I don’t see me being a head
coach again, because of the perception
overall.
“When you get
fired, it’s usually, ’Hey, he was fired
because he can’t win,”’ Phillips said. “It
wasn’t ’cause I couldn’t win. I couldn’t win
enough.”
Phillips was
born in Orange, about 110 miles from
Houston, played linebacker at the University
of Houston and made his NFL coaching debut
in 1976 with the Oilers, working as an
assistant for his father, Bum.
He worked for
seven different teams from 1981-2010 and
jumped at the chance to live near his
parents again and work with Kubiak, a
longtime friend of the family.
“Houston is
special to me,” Phillips said. “My first NFL
coaching job was here. At that time, when we
were in the playoffs every year and going to
the AFC championship. I thought I was a
great coach and that we’d be here the whole
time. It didn’t work out that way. I went
360 (degrees) and came back and ended right
where I wanted to be. And that’s here.”
Phillips says
he’ll implement a 3-4 defensive front, a
change from the 4-3 that Houston has been
playing. Phillips has been a defensive
coordinator for 20 seasons and at his last
five stops, the team made the playoffs in
his first year.
“I’ve been
successful in playing a 3-4 for a long
time,” Phillips said. “I’ve gone into
situations where they’ve played a 4-3
before, and we’ve been successful very
quickly.”
Kubiak didn’t
seem concerned about the switch, which has
caused some buzz among his players.
“Is it a big
change? It sounds like it,” Kubiak said.
“But I think when you start talking about
the way he plays his 3-4, it’s reduced a lot
of times, which is a four-man front, so
there is a lot of carry-over there.”
Pro Bowl
defensive end Mario Williams was skeptical
that he could make a smooth transition to
Phillips’ 3-4 scheme. But Phillips coached
Reggie White and Bruce Smith during stints
in Philadelphia and Buffalo, and both are
now enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Williams, the
top overall pick in the 2006 draft, has 48
sacks in five seasons, and led Houston with
8 1/2 this year.
“When you have
a great one, you try to utilize their
ability,” Phillips said. “I’ve had two of
them who were, by far, better than any of
the guys I coached before, or after. I hope
to coach one here.”
Phillips had a
brief chat with Pro Bowl middle linebacker
DeMeco Ryans, but hadn’t met any of his
other new players as of Monday afternoon.
He’s only analyzed the Texans on film, and
said it was too early for him to offer
complete evaluations.
“Getting to
know how smart they are, how quickly they
learn things, what kind of strength they
have and what weaknesses each player has, I
still need to learn those things,” Phillips
said. “It’s all part of the process.”
The most
glaring weakness is the secondary, where
Kubiak made a costly decision to stick with
rookie Kareem Jackson and second-year pro
Glover Quin at each cornerback spot. The
Texans allowed 33 touchdown catches and 18
pass plays covering at least 20 yards, both
league highs.
Phillips
doesn’t think the Texans need widespread
roster changes to improve the defense. He
evaded a question Monday about Houston’s
interest in Pro Bowl cornerback Nnamdi
Asomugha, who’s now a free agent after the
final year of his contract with the Oakland
Raiders was voided.
“I have some
money in my pocket,” Phillips said, “but I
want to keep it.”
Kubiak said the
Texans will “look at options” in free
agency. First, he and Phillips have to
finish their assessments of Houston’s
current personnel.
Phillips will
coach in the East-West Shrine Classic in
Orlando, Fla., next week.
