ASU FOOTBALL COACHING CLINIC: Phillips: 'I come to be with coaches'
San Angelo Standard Times

Friday, June 18, 2010. Over the last 37 years, the Angelo Football Clinic has brought some of the brightest minds in football to San Angelo to share their knowledge.

This year was no different as Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips along with assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett educated more than 1,600 coaches on the inner workings of America’s Team.

There aren’t many professions where people at the top of their game are eager to give in-depth instruction on how they achieved their success, but Garrett says football is different.

“Coaching is a fraternity,” the orchestrator of the National Football League’s second-ranked offense said. “There is a willingness to share the expertise with each other in a real positive way.

“It’s not a situation where you’re putting yourself at a competitive disadvantage. Really what you’re doing is talking football and everyone I’ve known involved in coaching has a passion for it. It’s a real healthy dynamic and it’s great to be a part of that here in San Angelo.”

Phillips, who has been a co-director of the annual event for more than 30 years, echoed Garrett’s sentiments.

Acknowledging some of his philosophy came from growing up on the NFL sidelines with his father, Bum Phillips, he said the rest has been picked up from others in the profession.

“I think the really good coaches realize that they learn from other people,” Phillips said. “What I know came from somebody else. People willing to share those ideas and talk football with you is where you learn things. You don’t do it by yourself.”

Phillips formed friendships with fellow directors Jim Hess, Jerry Vandergriff and Mike Martin at Angelo State University while working on his father’s Houston Oilers coaching staff in the late 1970s, during the clinic’s infancy.

When the Oilers spent training camps in San Angelo, Hess, Vandergriff and Martin were coaching the Rams.

“I think it’s special,” Phillips said. “I’ve come here for almost every one of them. I wasn’t a director for a while. I just came because you can learn a lot of football and I do every year learn something.

“Hopefully people learn some things from me now, but I come to be with coaches and further our profession.”

Garrett, who was speaking for the first time in San Angelo, was excited to be a part of something with such a rich tradition.

“This is an amazing event,” he said. “To think that they have been doing it for 37 years, and a couple of the guys told me they probably did it for a few years before they started counting.

“Doing this for close to 40 years is truly amazing and the following they have with the number of high school and college coaches and professional people who come back year after year is a tribute to the operation they have and the people that run it.”
 

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