Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has always had a way with words.
And now the former Cowboys coach has a new book out. Released Tuesday, "Son of Bum, Lessons my Dad Taught me about Football and Life," is a book about his more-than-four-decade career as a coach and what he learned in life and football from his late father, Bum, the former Houston Oilers coach who died in 2013.
In his new book, which took him about a year and a half to finish, Phillips talks about winning a Super Bowl with Denver in 2015 and his time in Dallas.
Phillips was hired as the Cowboys' head coach in 2007 and three and a half years later was fired by owner Jerry Jones midway through 2010. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett became the interim coach for the Cowboys and eventually was named Phillips' permanent replacement.
Here's a Q&A with Phillips about his book, his thoughts on Jones and Garrett and the recent decisions of Tony Romo and DeMarcus Ware to step away from football:
Q: How did this book idea come about?
A: After winning the Super Bowl, they came to me and said they would like a book. I said, 'Everything is pretty much documented about the Super Bowl and winning it, our team and all the great things that happened. I'd really rather do something about my dad.' They said that would be a good idea and we started working on it then. It's been about a year and a half. It takes a while to get it done, but it's something that I kind of wanted to do family-wise and football-wise. There aren't many coaches who had a dad who coached and he was your high school coach, your college coach and you worked with him for like 11 years and I have a son (Wes) who worked with me for Dallas. It's kind of a unique situation. I think the Phillipses and the Shulas are the only three-generation NFL families, so all that tied together.
Q: What philosophy in life or coaching did you learn from your dad early on and use throughout your career?
A: I knew what a coach was because I grew up around the fieldhouse and I knew what they did and some of it rubbed off. I was ahead in high school and college a little bit because I knew the defense or I knew the offense more than the other kids who were playing the game basically, so that helped me have a good high school and college career. He always told me basically the right things, and I learned those things from him. He was my high school coach. High school coaches in Texas are one of the big people in the town, in the small towns. He's looked up to there and I coached with him in college and I coached with him in the NFL. He influenced about everything I did as a person and as a coach.
Q: You're one of the only coaches to have coached both for Houston and Dallas in the NFL. How do those two organizations compare?
A: I'm the only one who has coached for both of them and been fired by both of them. Obviously the Cowboys are more established. They've been there for a long time, and Jerry Jones has had the team for a long time. Coming back, Houston was a team that came back, because the Oilers were there. In fact we had played the Cowboys when I was with the Oilers on Thanksgiving Day one year, but then the team came back under new ownership and a new name and Mr. (Bob) McNair is a great owner, too. Jerry Jones going into the Hall of Fame, so that says what he has done for the league. Both of them are really good franchises and part of the reason they are is they're in Texas. Texas loves football. Football loves Texas and Texas loves football.
Q: For Cowboys fans, what are the best stories for them in this book?
A: Some of it is just kind of behind-the-scenes stuff about what went on, of course it's all from my perspective, just hearing about what we did then and how it went. Of course, we were pretty successful for a while but we didn't get to the point where we needed to be and that's the way it works out in pro football sometimes. I was disappointed we didn't get it done there and disappointed in myself overall that we didn't win a championship for Jerry because he's always striving for that and he's working the team back up for that chance to get it again. I think we had a chance when I was there but we didn't quite get it.
Q: You say in the book that Jerry Jones is a great person to be around ... until he fires you.
A: Yeah, everybody is like that. And that's part of the business. We all understand that. Like dad said, and it's in the book, 'There are two kinds of coaches, ones that have been fired and ones who are going to be fired.' You live with that. We started with the Oilers and we lost two AFC Championship games and then lost in the first round all three years to the Super Bowl winner and we got fired. We had the best regular season record those three years and that was my first time in the NFL and I thought, 'Gee, I thought I did a good job,' but it's somebody else who decides that. You just do the best you can do and you realize there are going to be changes. I didn't think my dad was right until we got fired. He said there were two kind of coaches, and I thought, 'Well, I've never been fired.' Hey, everywhere I've been, I thought I did a good job, and I thought I did a good job at Houston, but it didn't turn out, we got fired, so you just move on in this business and sometimes they move you on and sometimes it's your own choice that you go somewhere else.
Q: Many people see the personable side of Jerry Jones, someone they'd probably have fun hanging out with, but what's 'Business Jerry Jones' like?
A: He's always thinking about the Cowboys' name and keeping them America's Team, which he has done a great job of obviously. They have fans all over the country. Everywhere I go, 'Oh, Wade Phillips, can I have your picture? You were with the Cowboys.' I say, 'Yeah, I was with Denver but we won the Super Bowl.' They say, 'Yeah, we know that, but you were with the Cowboys. OK.' He's done a great job of keeping the name out there. But there is a business part of it, too. He would say, 'We're going to do certain things certain ways,' and he wants it done his way, which I don't blame him. It's his team.
Q: What's your favorite story about Jerry Jones?
A: Well, I don't know if it's my favorite. They're a great family, with Charlotte and Stephen and all of them. They are a great, close-knit family and I think people don't know (that) about Jerry. Yeah, he fired me. That's OK. That's fine. But when my dad died, he sent (my son) Wes, who was working for the Cowboys then (as the tight ends coach), he sent Wes and his family down on his personal plane down to the funeral in Goliad. He paid for the meal that day so everybody could have something to eat for the funeral. I'll never forget that. He didn't have to do that. He didn't ask me to do that. He just did it because he's a family guy and that's what people don't see about him. He's passionate about his team. There is no doubt about that. And he makes his own decisions and goes with them. And he's obviously been a great influence on the league.
Q: In the book, you also talk about not being happy when you found out that Jason Garrett, as the offensive coordinator, was making more than you as the head coach. That Garrett had received a big raise when the Ravens offered him the head coaching job in 2008 and you didn't get a pay bump. How much did that bother you?
A: That bothered me at the time because you think you're the head coach and somebody is making more money than you are. Actually I talked to my dad about that and he said like you would think he would say, he said, 'Don't worry about that.' He said, 'Just do the best you can do and do your job and things will work out for you.' Which is what I tried to do. Yeah, at the time, and I talked to Jerry about it, and he explained it to me. He said, 'Hey, to keep him that's what we had to do.' And Jason is a great coach, and I said, 'That's fine,' though I didn't like it. But that's fine that we kept him because when he was there with me we had the top offenses and he still does. So he's proving that.
Q: How has Jason Garrett done as the Cowboys' coach since replacing you midway through 2010?
A: Well, he overcame what I messed up so I think he did pretty well. We weren't doing very good when I left, so he got them back going again and won a playoff game and then had a big year last year. He's certainly got them going in the right direction.
Q: What was it like coaching alongside Jason Garrett and what's he like behind the scenes?
A: He's really sharp. He really knows the game. I got him when he was young, he was a first-time coordinator and you could see him blossom into a really good coordinator and then a really good head coach. Experience helps all of that, too. But as far as football knowledge, and knowing the game and knowing how to teach it, he's always great at that.
Q: I asked you about your favorite Jerry Jones story, what about your favorite Tony Romo story?
A: When you look at it, the games that we lost, I don't know how many there were, but several of those were without Tony. He was hurt one year and we lost two out of three games. My last year there, he got (hurt) after the third game and we lost five in a row. His record, and I think everybody has seen that now, his record as a starting quarterback whenever he's playing is pretty phenomenal. He's such a cool competitor. I always marveled at that. The game wasn't too big for him. You could talk to him when he came off the sideline. He was completely in control in all situations. I enjoyed being around him for sure. He proved it. He's broken records of (Roger) Staubach and (Troy) Aikman. He has had a pretty phenomenal career.
Q: Were you surprised to see Romo step away from football in 2017 and pursue a job as an analyst in the CBS booth?
A: I don't know. It's up to each player. It's like DeMarcus (Ware) retiring, at a certain point, if you think you ought to retire you probably should. It's probably like coaching, too. They keep asking me when I'm going to retire. I say, 'I haven't thought about it.' I guess when I start thinking about it I probably should. But I haven't thought about it. I sure think a lot of him. I went to his wedding and so forth. He had a great career and he doesn't have to look back on anything except go forward and enjoy life. No matter what, playing football you can't play it your whole life and you've got to do something else and I think this fits him. He'll do a good job with what he's doing.
Q: So you think Romo will become a natural in the CBS booth?
A: Yeah, I think so. Even with Aikman, with any of those ex-Cowboys, they have so many people who are kind of for them, really, and I think that helps. There are a lot of Cowboys fans, like I said, who are still excited about somebody who had been a Cowboy. He has great knowledge of the game, too, like Aikman does and some of those Cowboys who are on TV.
Q: DeMarcus Ware also recently retired. You coached him in Dallas and Denver. Was retiring the right thing for him?
A: Maybe he could, maybe he couldn't, but when you start thinking maybe I can't, well that's when you ought to get out. As long as they're not looking back and going forward with things, you don't want to half do something, but if you're thinking about retiring, you probably should. I think it was the right decision because he had been hurt the last two years some and when he wasn't hurt — he had two sacks in the Super Bowl — and if Von Miller wouldn't have been the MVP he might have been. He played so well the Super Bowl year for us but then he got hurt against last year, so I could see where he looked ... he's going to be in the Hall of Fame anyway. He's already accomplished about anything you can accomplish. He had over 20 sacks in one season. He was a tremendous player. He's accomplished all he needs to accomplish in my view.
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