Broncos’ Phillips keeps things simple

Associated Press

SANTA CLARA, Calif.

A few weeks ago, Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips went to great pains to describe glowingly a certain coach with the initials “B.B.” — a coach he would go on to out-scheme and beat a few days later to punch his ticket to the Super Bowl.

“I’ve said it before,” Phillips said. “He’s a great coach because he can take his guys and beat yours, but he can also take your guys and beat his.”

If that sounded familiar, it was a de-Texas-ized version of his dad’s old homage to Don Shula: “He can take his’n and beat your’n, and take your’n and beat his’n.”

Though Wade may be missing the 10-gallon hat and the cowboy boots, the coach with the Twitter handle (at)sonofbum really is a chip off the ol’ block — sharp as a tack and quick with a quip. And, just like his dad, Son of Bum can coach a little, too.

No magic to it, he insists, as he gets ready for the season’s biggest challenge — stopping Cam Newton and the Panthers. Essentially, Phillips says, the key to coaching — the key to life, really — is to keep things simple. And stay aggressive. And never forget, first and foremost, this is a game about connecting with people.

“My dad was my hero, not just my dad,” Phillips said. “Everything I learned about football and about people, and about how to work with people, is from him.”

The testimonials from his current players are consistent.

“He’s hilarious. He’ll dance and goof around,” defensive lineman Derek Wolfe said. “But then when it’s time for business, it’s time for business. We take on that personality as a team.”

It’s possible that the close, personal connections he builds with players is the sort of thing that make a guy a great assistant but not so great as the head coach.

Phillips has been fired from both positions more times than he can count.

Over the decades, he has been shoehorned into this classification: great defensive coordinator, but someone who cannot hold down the top job.

This season’s Broncos are No. 1 in yards allowed, passing yards allowed and sacks. But Phillips’ head-coaching record is 82-61, and he has a grand total of one playoff win. Of his three head-coaching stints, in Denver, Buffalo and Dallas, none lasted longer than four seasons.

He’s learned to live with that, and it eventually led him to what is, officially, his third job with the Broncos.

He was defensive coordinator from 1989-92, when Dan Reeves was winding down a stint that included three Super Bowls. Then Phillips became head coach when Reeves got fired. Then, six jobs later (eight if you count two of his stints as interim head coach), he returned at age 68 to become the defensive coordinator again, this time working for John Elway and Gary Kubiak.