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Throughout a storied coaching career spanning 51 years, Wade Phillips has seen it all. The Southeast Texas native has been a head coach at the highest levels of professional football, won a Super Bowl and impacted the lives of countless athletes.

Yet after five decades in the coaching business, he just can’t walk away. Asked whether retirement has been on his mind lately, the 77-year-old’s answer was a strong one.

“I think they’re gonna have to scrape me off the field,” Phillips said.

“The older you get, health is certainly really important. But, I feel good. I enjoy what I’m doing. I want to give back to football, but it gives back to me too. That’s the neat part of it.”

While he hasn’t coached in the NFL since 2019, Phillips is still going strong at the helm of a professional football team. In 2023, he served as Head Coach of the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks. When that league merged with another to form the UFL in 2024, he took the reins of the San Antonio Brahmas.

This past season, Phillips led the Brahmas to a 7-3 record. The team boasted the best defense in the league and allowed a meager 15.3 points a game to opponents en route to a UFL title game appearance. While the Brahmas ultimately fell in the championship, it showed Phillips is still more than capable of running a tight ship — and a stifling defense.

Phillips said the success of his team, and the fledgling UFL, is measured by more than wins and losses.

“It’s great that I get to coach, but for guys that love football like I do, it’s still another opportunity,” Phillips said. “We have 132 players that played last year in our league that are in the NFL right now. Some of them will get cut, but that’s quite a few players coming in. 

“That’s what it’s for, to give those guys that missed an opportunity or got injured another opportunity to play in the NFL.”

Unlike the NFL, the UFL operates on a spring schedule. The 10-game schedule begins at the tail end of March and runs through mid-June. Phillips said he appreciates the league’s format, especially since it gives him time to watch more football during the fall. 

He attends the occasional University of Houston game to support his alma mater, but takes extra care to catch every Minnesota Vikings contest. There’s a reason for that — his son, Wes, is the Vikings’ offensive coordinator.

Wade is, of course, the son of legendary NFL head coach Bum Phillips. With Wes in the mix too, their family’s coaching lineage is nearly unbelievable.

“For 75 years now, there’s been a Phillips coaching,” he said. “With my dad, myself and Wes in the NFL, that’s a pretty neat legacy. If Wes gets a head coaching job, we’ll be the only ones with a third generation head coach in the NFL.”

While he’d like to watch his son’s games as a fan, Phillips’ coaching instincts tend to take over. Having spent a lifetime coaching the sport he loves, high-level analysis of the game is intertwined with his identity. His rooting interests tend to be influenced by the connections he’s made throughout his decades in the industry, too.

“You have a vested interest in the ball games themselves because of the people involved,” Phillips said. “It’s really not just X’s and O’s, it’s about the people who play and coach. The game’s always changing. But what you learn to do, coaching-wise, is change with the game and the theory.

“Just like many other jobs, it’s about people and relating with people. A lot of it’s teaching the things that help them be a better football player or have a better team. I’ve been with a lot of teams and a lot of great players. I think 27 guys I’ve coached are in the Hall of Fame. Those experiences, not many other people have, so I’m appreciative of that.”

While Phillips lives in Houston with his wife of 55 years and high school sweetheart Laurie, he still keeps in touch with the Southeast Texas community. The Port Neches-Groves graduate had high praise for his former high school’s football program.

During PN-G’s 2023 run to a state championship, Phillips came home to have lunch with the team and speak to the players, as well as head coach Jeff Joseph. Phillips also watched the state title game and said Joseph has done a great job at the helm. 

“You can tell when people are coached well, and that team was really coached well with a lot of good kids,” Phillips said. 

“You want to be great football players in the game, but you want to be good people. You could tell they’ve really influenced their team and the players that way. I’ve coached pro football, and I still talk to players about how these games are important, but the rest of your life is really important. How you live it, and how you treat people is really the most important part, even though winning and losing seems like it is.”