Wade Phillips was named the seventh coach in Dallas Cowboys history on February 8, 2007. A native Texan with a rich appreciation for the game of football in his home state, Phillips is the only head coach in franchise history to assume the Cowboys top job with previous coaching experience on the high school, collegiate and professional levels in the Lone Star State. Phillips has 31 years of NFL coaching experience - including six full seasons as a head coach and 20 years as a defensive coordinator.

In his six-plus years as a head coach, Phillips has produced a 61-42 regular season record and has guided his teams to four playoff appearances. He has had only one non-winning season as a head coach. His .592 career winning percentage in the regular season is sixth-best among active NFL head coaches with five-or-more years of head coaching experience entering the 2008 season. He trails Tony Dungy (.661), Mike Holmgren (.613), Bill Belichick (.611), Andy Reid (.611) and Mike Shanahan (.605) on the list of winningest active NFL head coaches in the regular season.

Phillips has a wealth of NFL experience both as a defensive coordinator and head coach. One of his trademarks has been the ability to immediately improve the teams he has worked with from his very first day on the job. The last seven times he has taken over as a head coach or defensive coordinator, his new team has reached the playoffs in his first season. Only once in those seven transitions has Phillips taken over a club that was coming off a winning record. Although he is noted as a very successful and innovative defensive mind, Phillips's teams have produced offensive units that finished the season ranked among the NFL's top-10 in five of his six full seasons as a head coach.

Phillips's results in his first year in Dallas exceeded all expectations while establishing several key milestones. The 2007 Cowboys tied the club record for regular season victories with a 13-3 mark en route to winning the NFC Eastern Division crown - the 20th division title in team history. While posting the first 12-1 record ever for a Cowboys team to start a season, the 2007 Dallas club closed the year with the NFL's third ranked offense and the ninth ranked defensive unit.

Under Phillips's guidance, the 2007 team also sent a franchise and league record 13 players to the Pro Bowl. That group included six players who made the Pro Bowl for the first time in their NFL careers: running back Marion Barber, guard Leonard Davis, linebacker Greg Ellis, kicker Nick Folk, safety Ken Hamlin, and cornerback Terence Newman.

A proven winner in the NFL, Phillips understands what it takes to be successful. Over the past 19 years as a head coach or coordinator, he has been a part of only four teams that have had non-winning records. During that time he has worked with a defense that ranked in the NFL's top-10 nine times. In seven of the last nine years he has worked with a defense that ranked in the top-10 against the run.

Prior to his arrival in Dallas, Phillips served as the defensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers (2004-2006). After implementing his 3-4 defensive scheme, Phillips directed a unit that improved each season, moving from 18th in the NFL in total defense in his first season to 13th in 2005 and then 10th in 2006. His 2005 unit was the NFL's stingiest against the run with a league leading average of 84.3 yards-per-game allowed on the ground. In his first year in San Diego, the Chargers were even stingier, allowing just 81.7 rushing yards-per-game to rank third in the league.

The Chargers aggressive defense also cranked out a league-high 61 sacks in 2006, the second-most in club history. It was the second straight year the defense had shown improvement in that category, going from 29 sacks in 2004 to 46 sacks in 2005 to the breakout year in 2006. Two-time Pro Bowl linebacker Shawne Merriman was the leader of that group, topping the NFL with 17 sacks that year.

When the Chargers won the AFC West and qualified for the playoffs in 2004 on the heels of a 4-12 season in 2003, Phillips kept his streak intact of helping to turn teams with non-winning records into playoff participants the following year.

At the end of his two-year term (2002-03) as defensive coordinator in Atlanta, he served as the interim head coach for the Falcons final three games of the 2003 season after Dan Reeves was released from his contract on December 10. Phillips posted a record of 2-1 as Atlanta's head coach, highlighted by a 30-28 victory at Tampa Bay that knocked the defending Super Bowl champions out of playoff contention.

Phillips's defense in Atlanta in 2002 mastered the big play. The team finished with 47 sacks, second-most in team history and tied for fourth in the NFL. They also had 39 takeaways - second in the league - including 24 interceptions - fourth in the league.

During the 1998-2000 seasons as head coach in Buffalo, the Bills compiled a regular season record of 29-19. Phillips took the reigns after a disappointing 6-10 finish in 1997 and reversed the team's fortunes by leading it to a 10-6 record and the playoffs in 1998. It was the most successful campaign of any first-year head coach in Bills history. His 1999 team led the NFL in total defense, went 11-5 and earned another trip to the postseason. The Bills finished 8-8 in 2002 - his last season in Buffalo. The Bills were 16-9 under Phillips in his three years at the helm after the start of November.

In three seasons in Buffalo (1995-97) before he became head coach, he delivered solid returns as defensive coordinator. In 1996, Buffalo's defense allowed a league-low 22 touchdown passes and 3.4 yards-per-carry, while ranking fourth in sacks (48) and second in yards-per-play (4.3) and opponent completion percentage (.520). As the defensive coordinator and head coach with the Bills, Phillips guided the stellar careers of future Pro Football Hall of Famers Bruce Smith and Thurman Thomas.

Phillips was named Denver's head coach on January 25, 1993 after serving as defensive coordinator the previous four seasons. In his first year as head coach, (1993) future Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway enjoyed the finest season of his career to that point with career-high figures for completions (348), percentage (.632), yardage (4,030) and his lowest single-season interception total (10). Phillips led the 1993 Broncos to a playoff berth, but injuries decimated the club the following season which resulted in a 7-9 record - Phillips only season with a losing record in five years as a head coach. Phillips was released by the club soon after the season finale and joined Buffalo as defensive coordinator shortly thereafter. The Broncos safety tandem of Steve Atwater and Dennis Smith combined for a total of eight Pro Bowl selections under Phillips's watch in Denver, while defensive end Karl Mecklenburg earned four trips to Hawaii.

Phillips's extensive coaching career also included stopovers at Philadelphia from 1986-88 as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach as well as defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints from 1981-85 - his first coordinator position. During his stint with the Eagles, Phillips mentored the development of one of the NFL's most dominant defenses of the era, a unit that was led by Reggie White who was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

Phillips's professional coaching career began in Houston in 1976 as the linebackers coach under his father, longtime NFL coach Bum Phillips. While working along side the elder Phillips, the Oilers introduced the 3-4 defense to the NFL. After a year as the linebackers coach in 1976, Phillips moved to handling the defensive line responsibilities from 1977 to 1980. Hall of Fame defensive end Elvin Bethea was a three time Pro Bowl selection while working with Phillips, while linebacker Robert Brazile earned four of his seven consecutive Pro Bowl selections from 1977 to 1980.

Phillips began his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of Houston, in 1969 as a graduate assistant. He then coached at Orange, Texas, High School from 1970-72. In 1973, he joined the Oklahoma State University staff coaching linebackers for two seasons. Phillips was then hired to coach the defensive line at Kansas State in 1975, his last season coaching in the college ranks.

Wade Phillips was born June 21, 1947 in Orange, Texas. He was a three-year starter at linebacker for the University of Houston from 1966-68 after a standout career at Port Neches-Groves High School in Port Neches, Texas. Phillips and wife Laurie have one son, Wesley, who is an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, and a daughter, Tracy, who is a professional actress, dancer and choreographer in Hollywood, California.