It's Official: Cowboys Name Phillips Head Coach

Wade Phillips was hired Thursday as coach of the Dallas Cowboys, giving the team an experienced replacement for the retired Bill Parcells.

Maybe more significantly for owner Jerry Jones was getting a coach who can win now. The Cowboys haven't won a postseason game in 10 seasons, the longest drought in the history of a team with five Super Bowl titles.

"This team is best served now, next week, next month and next season by an NFL head coach with experience, that knows the game, that candidly knows the personnel that are playing the game right now," Jones said.

Phillips, 59, defensive coordinator at San Diego the past three seasons, has a 48-42 head-coaching record over three seasons with Buffalo, two with Denver and season-ending interim stints with New Orleans and Atlanta.

Jones interviewed 10 candidates before hiring his sixth coach since buying the team in 1989. Tom Landry is the franchise's only other coach.

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Chicago Bears defensive lineman Tank Johnson pleaded guilty in Skokie, Ill., to violating probation in a 2005 gun case with his Dec. 14 arrest on misdemeanor weapons charges. Sentencing is set for March 15.

Meanwhile, the Bears shook up their coaching staff, saying defensive line coach Don Johnson and assistant offensive line coach Harold Goodwin wouldn't return and that another assistant, offensive quality control coach Mike Bajakian, has left to become offensive coordinator at Central Michigan.

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Leslie Frazier left the Indianapolis Colts to become defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings.

Frazier was a special assistant to Colts Coach Tony Dungy and also was in charge of the team's defensive backs.

At Minnesota, he replaces Mike Tomlin, who became the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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Tom Rathman, a two-time Super Bowl champion as a player with the San Francisco 49ers, was hired as the Oakland Raiders' running backs coach. He has been an assistant for nine seasons with San Francisco and the Detroit Lions.

Cleveland Browns Coach Romeo Crennel completed his staff shakeup, naming Umberto Leone defensive quality control coach, Mike Sullivan assistant offensive line coach and Frank Verducci offensive assistant


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