Bum Phillips

Wade Phillips, the Eagles' defensive coordinator, had the first real job interview of his life on Thursday. And now Phillips finds himself as a serious candidate for the job of head football coach at his alma mater, the University of Houston. "I have an interest in being a head coach," said Phillips, 39. "I think the interview went really well. I think it could be a really good job, but there are some problems there, too. "Of course, I've got a real good job now. It would be a big career decision for me, if they offered me the job. " Phillips - who played linebacker for the Cougars in the late 1960's and was a graduate assistant coach there for one season - also has family ties in Houston.

In a business hardly known for lengthy tenure on the job, the New Orleans Saints announced yesterday that the contracts of general manager Jim Finks and head coach Jim Mora would be extended through 1995. "That means both of these gentlemen will be with this club for 10 years," said Saints owner Tom Benson. Finks, 65, and Mora, 57, joined the Saints in 1986; only Denver GM John Beake and head coach Dan Reeves have worked together longer at the same franchise, by one year. Mora trails only Don Shula, Joe Gibbs, Reeves and Mike Ditka for NFL head coaching tenure.

Family ties of a sort were cut yesterday with the announcement that Wade Phillips, former interim head coach of the New Orleans Saints, had become the sixth assistant to join the staff of Eagles coach Buddy Ryan. Phillips, 38, who coached the Saints for the final four weeks of the 1985 season after his father, Bum Phillips, resigned, has been named defensive coordinator and linebacker coach by Ryan. Phillips's title of defensive coordinator is mainly window dressing. Ryan, who put together the Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears' vaunted "46" defense, is expected to personally direct the Eagles' defense.

Wade Phillips was named the Eagles' defensive coordinator yesterday, an appointment that provided an ironic postscript to one of the more traumatic years in the life of the former New Orleans Saints head coach. Phillips was replaced as the Saints' coach by Jim Mora, who was supposed to have been a lock for the Eagles' head-coaching job before Eagles owner Norman Braman changed course and selected Buddy Ryan. And where does Phillips end up? In Philadelphia. "I hadn't really thought about it," Phillips, 38, said.

Earl Campbell, the New Orleans Saints running back who won three NFL rushing titles with the Houston Oilers, announced his retirement yesterday, 593 yards short of the 10,000 career-yardage mark. "I'm a man. I'm not a little boy," Campbell said at a news conference. "I believe this is the best thing - not only for myself, but for the Saints. " Campbell's performance since joining the Saints six games into the 1984 season had been disappointing. But he began training camp this year full of optimism, weighing in at a trim 225 pounds and saying he was ready to put a poor 1985 season behind him. His performance during two preseason games, however, wasn't impressive.

The last time the Houston Oilers were in the playoffs, in 1980, Earl Campbell was their top running back, Ken Stabler their quarterback and Bum Phillips their coach. Seven years ago, fullback Alonzo Highsmith wasn't even in college yet. Seven weeks ago, Highsmith was still getting accustomed to the Oilers' system. The club's No. 1 draft choice, out of Miami (Fla.), refused to sign a contract through the first six games of the season. Yesterday, Highsmith scored his first two pro touchdowns as Houston defeated disappointing Cincinnati, 21-17, and gained the final AFC wild-card spot.

As the ball left Mike Lansford's foot and began its ascent toward the goal posts, 42 yards away, Wade Phillips watched his dream soar past him, curl between the uprights and die on impact in the end zone. If fate had twisted that ball just a few feet more, everything might be different today. Wade Phillips might be toasting his success on Bourbon Street instead of waiting for the lights to change on Broad Street. But the ball stayed true, and the hopes proved false. The Los Angeles Rams prevailed, 26-24, on Dec. 18, 1983, and the New Orleans Saints were denied a winning season for the 17th consecutive time.

DURING THE lead-up to Super Bowl XLIV, sports writers and columnists from around the world offered their thoughts as to what it meant for the New Orleans Saints, the NFL's poster boys for ineptitude since the franchise's birth in 1967 - and literal orphans of the storm during the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged 2005 season - to defy their sorry history and finally make it to the Big Game. Most were only theorizing. To understand the depth of despair that Saints fans have endured for the vast majority of the team's 43-year existence, you had to be there at the beginning.

It's a fairly good bet that during training camp, Bill Parcells would not have a news conference inside a corporate tent, with fans invited in to watch and sit amicably while a car-dealer representative gushed about some new team-sponsored award for the Texas high school player of the week. But the new coach of the Dallas Cowboys was happy to be there. "I'm an old Texas high school coach," Wade Phillips said, and that already makes him much different from Parcells, the Jersey guy with the championship rings and the impatience for fools both real and imagined.

The Denver Broncos, apparently spurned by their first choice when Mike Shanahan chose to remain with the San Francisco 49ers, hired their own defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips, as their new head coach yesterday. Phillips, 45, will succeed Dan Reeves, who has reached a tentative contract agreement to become the New York Giants' head coach, according to sources quoted by the Associated Press. Reeves will be formally introduced by the Giants today or tomorrow, the sources said.

DURING THE lead-up to Super Bowl XLIV, sports writers and columnists from around the world offered their thoughts as to what it meant for the New Orleans Saints, the NFL's poster boys for ineptitude since the franchise's birth in 1967 - and literal orphans of the storm during the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged 2005 season - to defy their sorry history and finally make it to the Big Game. Most were only theorizing. To understand the depth of despair that Saints fans have endured for the vast majority of the team's 43-year existence, you had to be there at the beginning.

It's a fairly good bet that during training camp, Bill Parcells would not have a news conference inside a corporate tent, with fans invited in to watch and sit amicably while a car-dealer representative gushed about some new team-sponsored award for the Texas high school player of the week. But the new coach of the Dallas Cowboys was happy to be there. "I'm an old Texas high school coach," Wade Phillips said, and that already makes him much different from Parcells, the Jersey guy with the championship rings and the impatience for fools both real and imagined.

The Denver Broncos, apparently spurned by their first choice when Mike Shanahan chose to remain with the San Francisco 49ers, hired their own defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips, as their new head coach yesterday. Phillips, 45, will succeed Dan Reeves, who has reached a tentative contract agreement to become the New York Giants' head coach, according to sources quoted by the Associated Press. Reeves will be formally introduced by the Giants today or tomorrow, the sources said.

In a business hardly known for lengthy tenure on the job, the New Orleans Saints announced yesterday that the contracts of general manager Jim Finks and head coach Jim Mora would be extended through 1995. "That means both of these gentlemen will be with this club for 10 years," said Saints owner Tom Benson. Finks, 65, and Mora, 57, joined the Saints in 1986; only Denver GM John Beake and head coach Dan Reeves have worked together longer at the same franchise, by one year. Mora trails only Don Shula, Joe Gibbs, Reeves and Mike Ditka for NFL head coaching tenure.

The arithmetic of the Super Bowl matchup between San Francisco's offense and Denver's defense is compelling in its sheer simplicity: The 49ers scored the most points of any team in the NFL this season; the Broncos allowed the fewest. Making the confrontation all the more intriguing is the battle that will take place between two of the league's rising stars in the coaching ranks. Mike Holmgren, in his first season as San Francisco's offensive coordinator, was a virtual unknown in pro coaching circles four years ago. Wade Phillips, in his first season as Denver's defensive coordinator, labored in the shadow of his father, Bum Phillips, in Houston and New Orleans, and then Buddy Ryan in Philadelphia.

Wade Phillips, the Eagles' defensive coordinator the last three seasons, was hired to fill the same post with the Denver Broncos yesterday. While the title remains the same, Phillips, 41, will have much more latitude in shaping Denver's defense than he did with the Eagles. Broncos coach Dan Reeves is an offense-oriented coach who delegates responsibility for the team's defense to his top defensive assistant, while Philadelphia head coach Buddy Ryan has been the architect and prime director of the Eagles defense since he took over the team.

The last time the Houston Oilers were in the playoffs, in 1980, Earl Campbell was their top running back, Ken Stabler their quarterback and Bum Phillips their coach. Seven years ago, fullback Alonzo Highsmith wasn't even in college yet. Seven weeks ago, Highsmith was still getting accustomed to the Oilers' system. The club's No. 1 draft choice, out of Miami (Fla.), refused to sign a contract through the first six games of the season. Yesterday, Highsmith scored his first two pro touchdowns as Houston defeated disappointing Cincinnati, 21-17, and gained the final AFC wild-card spot.

Wade Phillips, the Eagles' defensive coordinator, had the first real job interview of his life on Thursday. And now Phillips finds himself as a serious candidate for the job of head football coach at his alma mater, the University of Houston. "I have an interest in being a head coach," said Phillips, 39. "I think the interview went really well. I think it could be a really good job, but there are some problems there, too. "Of course, I've got a real good job now. It would be a big career decision for me, if they offered me the job. " Phillips - who played linebacker for the Cougars in the late 1960's and was a graduate assistant coach there for one season - also has family ties in Houston.

Earl Campbell, the New Orleans Saints running back who won three NFL rushing titles with the Houston Oilers, announced his retirement yesterday, 593 yards short of the 10,000 career-yardage mark. "I'm a man. I'm not a little boy," Campbell said at a news conference. "I believe this is the best thing - not only for myself, but for the Saints. " Campbell's performance since joining the Saints six games into the 1984 season had been disappointing. But he began training camp this year full of optimism, weighing in at a trim 225 pounds and saying he was ready to put a poor 1985 season behind him. His performance during two preseason games, however, wasn't impressive.

As the ball left Mike Lansford's foot and began its ascent toward the goal posts, 42 yards away, Wade Phillips watched his dream soar past him, curl between the uprights and die on impact in the end zone. If fate had twisted that ball just a few feet more, everything might be different today. Wade Phillips might be toasting his success on Bourbon Street instead of waiting for the lights to change on Broad Street. But the ball stayed true, and the hopes proved false. The Los Angeles Rams prevailed, 26-24, on Dec. 18, 1983, and the New Orleans Saints were denied a winning season for the 17th consecutive time.