Oail Andrew "Bum" Phillips Jr. (September 29, 1923 – October 18, 2013) was an American football coach at the high school, college and professional levels. He served as head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for the Houston Oilers from 1975 to 1980 and the New Orleans Saints from 1981 to 1985.

Early football career

Phillips played football at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, but enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on September 30, 1942. He became one of the elite Marine Raiders.

After he returned from the war, Phillips completed the remaining year on his degree at Lamar (a junior college at the time), and enrolled at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, lettering in football in 1948 and 1949 and graduating with a degree in education in 1949.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Phillips coached high school football in various Texan cities including Nederland, Jacksonville, Amarillo, and Port Neches–Groves.

His college coaching stints included serving as an assistant coach at Texas A&M University (for Bear Bryant), the University of Houston (for Bill Yeoman), Southern Methodist University (for Hayden Fry), and Oklahoma State University with Jim Stanley. He was the head coach at Texas Western University (now the University of Texas at El Paso) for one season in 1962.

NFL coaching career

In the late 1960s, Phillips was hired by Sid Gillman to serve as a defensive assistant coach for the San Diego Chargers. In 1973, Gillman became head coach of the Houston Oilers, and he brought Phillips with him as his defensive coordinator.

Phillips was promoted to head coach of the Oilers on January 25, 1975, and he served in that capacity through 1980. He was survived by his second wife Debbie and six children from his first marriage, along with almost two dozen grandchildren.

In honor of Bum Phillips coaching both Nederland and Port Neches–Groves High Schools, the rivalry game between his two favorite schools is named the Bum Phillips Bowl.

Quotes

Phillips was known for his trademark Stetson cowboy hat on the sidelines, except when the Oilers played in the Astrodome or other domed stadiums. He stated that his mother taught him not to wear a hat indoors; his former boss Bear Bryant similarly refused to wear his trademark houndstooth hat during indoor games. Phillips wore his cowboy hat with blue jeans and a button down shirt, in contrast to Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry who wore a suit and tie with his trademark trilby.

Besides his trademark cowboy hat, Phillips is also known for his colorful quotes, such that Sports Illustrated noted that Wikipedia had a whole section of his page dedicated to these quips. In the week leading up to Super Bowl LIII, his son Wade was quoted as saying "Unfortunately, I get older but Tom Brady doesn't", while sporting the elder Phillip's sheepskin coat and cowboy hat as the Los Angeles Rams arrived in Atlanta.

  • "There's two kinds of coaches, them that's fired and them that's gonna be fired."
  • "I always thought I could coach. I just thought people were poor judges of good coaches."
  • "In the country, they don't say 'bumblebees' they say 'bummel bees", on how Bum Phillips really got his name. His aunt JoAnnette could only say 'Bum'.
  • "I've never seen a hammer and tong game like that one."
  • To a reporter who said, "He sure gets up slow", after Earl Campbell had been tackled. "Yes, but he goes down slow, too."
  • "The harder we played the behinder we got."
  • "Mama always said that if it can't rain on you, you're indoors." (Explaining why he wouldn't wear his cowboy hat in the Astrodome, the first domed stadium)
  • "Dallas Cowboys may be America's team, but the Houston Oilers are Texas' team."
  • "I never scrimmage Oilers against Oilers... what for? Houston isn't on our schedule." (Source: The Book of Sports Lists)
  • (To an official) "Hey, can I, can I tell you one thing? That's three holding penalties on one football team in a quarter and a half. (Pauses) That ain't funny."
  • (To an official) "Now, you can't do that! If you do it, I'm telling you you'll have more hell over it than a little bit."
  • (after playing the Steelers for the fifth time in two seasons and planning to meet them a sixth time) "The road to the Super Bowl runs through Pittsburgh, sooner or later you've got to go to Pittsburgh.
  • (referring to Houston Oilers quarterback Warren Moon) "That boy could throw a football through a car wash and not get it wet."
  • (when asked about Oilers RB Earl Campbell's inability to finish a one-mile run in training camp) "When it's first and a mile, I won't give it to him."
  • (when asked by Bob Costas why he took his wife on all of the Oilers' road trips) "Because she's too ugly to kiss goodbye."
  • (of Earl Campbell) "I don't know if he's in a class by himself, but I do know that when that class gets together, it sure don't take long to call the roll."
  • (From a PRO! Gameday program interview, when asked what he would be doing if he wasn't an NFL coach) "Teach first grade. Little bitty kids. You say 'boo' to 'em and they jump. And you don't have to fine 'em."
  • "Respect all. Fear none."
  • "The only discipline that lasts is self-discipline."
  • "Two kinds of players ain't worth a damn: One that never does what he's told, and one who does nothin' but what he's told."
  • (Speaking to the Saints prior to a 1983 game) "Do everything as good as you can, and then a little bit more. That's all the hell you gotta do."

Head coaching record

College

NFL

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Regular season !! colspan="4"|Postseason

|-

!Won!!Lost!!Ties!!Win %!!Finish!! Won !! Lost !! Win % !! Result

|-

!HOU||1975

||10||4||0||.714||3rd in AFC Central||–||–||–||–

|-

!HOU||1976

||5||9||0||.357||4th in AFC Central||–||–||–||–

|-

!HOU||1977

||8||6||0||.571||2nd in AFC Central||–||–||–||–

|- ! style="background:#fdd;"

!HOU||1978

||10||6||0||.625||2nd in AFC Central||2||1||.667||Lost to Pittsburgh Steelers in AFC Championship Game

|- ! style="background:#fdd;"

!HOU||1979

||11||5||0||.688||2nd in AFC Central||2||1||.667||Lost to Pittsburgh Steelers in AFC Championship Game

|- ! style="background:#fdd;"

!HOU||1980

||11||5||0||.688||2nd in AFC Central||0||1||.000||Lost to Oakland Raiders in AFC Wild-Card Game

|-

! colspan="2"|HOU Total||55||35||0||.611 ||||4||3||.571||

|-

!NO||1981

||4||12||0||.250||4th in NFC West||–||–||–||–

|-

!NO||1982

||4||5||0||.444||9th in NFC||–||–||–||–

|-

!NO||1983

||8||8||0||.500||3rd in NFC West||–||–||–||–

|-

!NO||1984

||7||9||0||.438||3rd in NFC West||–||–||–||–

|-

!NO||1985

||4||8||0||.333||Resigned||–||–||–||

|-

! colspan="2"|NO Total||27||42||0||.391 ||||0||0||.000||

|-

! colspan="2"|Total||82||77||0||.516||||4||3||.571||

|-

|}

See also

  • List of American Football League players

References

  • Phillips, O.A. "Bum". Bum Phillips Oral History, Houston Oral History Project, March 28, 2008.