Cowboys Officially Name Phillips New Head Coach
Nick Eatman - Email
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
February 6, 2007 5:01 PM
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Wade Phillips will become the seventh head coach in Cowboys history, replacing Bill Parcells.

IRVING, Texas - The Cowboys' coaching search is finally over.

Team owner and general manager Jerry Jones officially introduced Wade Phillips as the Cowboys' seventh head coach in club history during a news conference Thursday at Valley Ranch.

After a lengthy interviewing process that included 10 candidates, the Cowboys just couldn't pass on Phillips and his defensive background to be the successor for Bill Parcells, who announced his retirement on Jan. 22.

Phillips interviewed for the job back on Jan. 26 as the fifth candidate to meet with Jones and the staff. However, Phillips was the most experienced of all the candidates as a coach for 30 years in the NFL. He's the son of former Oilers and Saints head coach Bum Phillips.

This will be Phillips' third head coaching stint after stops in Denver (1993-94) and Buffalo (1998-2000), along with two other interim head coaching positions in New Orleans (1985) and Atlanta (2003).

But his latest success has come in San Diego, where he spent the last three years as defensive coordinator. He led a Chargers unit that led the NFL in sacks.

Phillips is known for his aggressive 3-4 defensive schemes and that appeared to be the overriding factor for Jones and the Cowboys, who switched from 4-3 to 3-4 under Bill Parcells two years ago.

"Obviously, I like the 3-4," Phillips said following his interview on Jan. 26. "I've been coaching it a long time. I think it gives you a lot of things, especially pass rush, that you can match up a lot, pass-rush wise. You can always beat blocking schemes, offensive blocking schemes. Obviously my background is defense and the 3-4. I like both of those things."

Phillips also said inheriting a 9-7 team that advanced to the playoffs would be attractive for any new coach.

"Well, they had a good team," he said. "Bill Parcells was here, and put together a solid team. That's pretty important already. They were in the playoffs last year. That's a good start for any head coach."

The Cowboys interviewed two candidates this week, including Colts assistant head coach Jim Caldwell on Wednesday. The team also met with Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera on Tuesday.

Before heading off to the Super Bowl last week, Jones interviewed 49ers assistant head coach Mike Singletary, along with Saints defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs. Both Turner and Phillips interviewed two weekends ago here in Dallas.

In the first week of the coaching search, the Cowboys interviewed three in-house assistants in Tony Sparano, Todd Bowles and Todd Haley, who has now left for Arizona to become offensive coordinator.

Jones then spent two days interviewing Jason Garrett before hiring him to the coaching staff in an undetermined role. Garrett has been expected to be named offensive coordinator if he didn't land the head coaching job.

Now that Phillips has the job, he'll have some work to do in putting together his coaching staff.

Currently, only five assistants remain from last year's staff: Bowles, Sparano, defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers and linebackers coaches Paul Pasqualoni and Vincent Brown.

The Cowboys' vacant defensive coordinator position could go to Bowles, who spent last year as the secondary coach. The Cowboys also will be looking for position coaches at running back, wide receiver, tight end and special teams. The club probably will look for a pair of quality control coaches as well.

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