Phillips Set to Be New Cowboys Coach

Wade Phillips appeared set to become the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, according to several reports.

Despite a Cowboys spokesman saying Thursday the job hadn't been filled, there were several reports that Phillips was to succeed Bill Parcells, who retired Jan. 22.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones arrived at Valley Ranch on Thursday morning. While getting out of his car at a back entrance to the complex, he told KTVT-TV of Dallas that he hadn't offered the job to anyone.

But the Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on their Web sites, as did ESPN.com and NFL.com, that Phillips had been selected as the next coach. All cited unidentified sources.

Jones has interviewed 10 candidates to become the Cowboys' seventh coach, the sixth he will hire since buying the team in 1989.

If Phillips becomes the Cowboys coach, the son of longtime Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips would join Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson as the only Texas natives to be in charge of "America's Team." Parcells is the only other coach who had previous head coaching experience before getting to Dallas.

The 59-year-old Phillips, who has been in the NFL 30 of the last 31 years, spent the last three seasons as San Diego's defensive coordinator. The Chargers last month lost offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, who became the Miami Dolphins' new coach.

Phillips' head coaching record is 48-42 over three years with Buffalo, two with Denver and season-ending interim stints with New Orleans and Atlanta. That includes 3-4 as a fill-in and 0-3 in the playoffs, most notably the "Music City Miracle," when Tennessee used a trick kick return for the winning touchdown in the closing seconds.

The last candidates interviewed by Jones were two Super Bowl assistants, Indianapolis assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell on Wednesday and Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera a day earlier.

San Francisco assistant Norv Turner, a two-time head coach and the offensive coordinator for two of the Cowboys' Super Bowl titles in the 1990s, had been viewed by many as the front-runner for the job.

Jones also interviewed New Orleans defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs, 49ers assistant and Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Singletary and three of Parcells' assistants.


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