Breakdowns
12/3/21
2 min read
The Friday Five: Wade Phillips
Wade Phillips is a long-time NFL defensive coordinator and head coach who coached with 9 different NFL teams over an illustrious career spanning from 1976 to 2019. The son of former NFL head coach Bum Phillips, Wade was a three-year starting linebacker at the University of Houston and secured his first NFL job as a GA with Houston in 1969. He published his football memoir, Son of Bum, in 2017.
We caught up with Wade for this week’s Friday Five…
1) Who is your biggest mentor?
My biggest mentor was my dad, of course. He was my coach in high school and college. I coached with him for 10 years in the NFL and he was my hero.
2) What players did you play against who were the hardest to game plan for?
Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were hardest because they were the best at recognizing coverage and could throw to its weakness and they recognized blitzes and would change their protections to pick them up. Both were extremely accurate.
3) Which team has the best defense in football right now?
I don’t see any dominant defenses that can win games without a good offense. Buffalo is probably the best right now.
4) What advice would you give your younger self?
I would not change much — probably tell my younger self the mistakes that I would learn from and not make them.
5) If you could invite any three people in history to dinner, who would they be and why?
I would invite my Dad because I miss him. I'd also invite Paul “Bear” Bryant because he was a coach I revered as a kid. And then I'd invite Bill Yeoman — my college coach who I admired.
