I was there seven years
and it was the seven
happiest years of my life.
Not because we won
but because of the way we won
and the--and the way
the kids acted,
the way the players
and the fans reacted.
Just to get that city
and that group
of kids together,
oh...
great memories.
If I could play
for any coach in the NFL,
I'd play for Bum Phillips.
I mean, that guy
was like unbelievable.
He was like the perfect dad
everybody thought
they would love to have.
The way that players
talk about Bum.
I mean, he's a legend not only
because he was a great coach
but I think, more importantly,
he's a great person.
Kind of an odd-looking
guy for a football coach.
Cowboy boots and belt buckles
and man with a big
cowboy hat,
had a big smile
most of the time.
My next guest is one
of the most outstanding
and colorful coaches
that the NFL has had in years.
Bum Phillips.
Texas is a football state
and Houston
is a football city.
And he's a legend. They had
a team that was legendary.
And they were dominating
and the fans,
the city,
everybody was behind it.
It seemed like football
heaven to me.
Well, they are--they are
a great team in Houston.
They're a great team.
Bum Phillips was an icon.
Every man get a man,
every good man get two.
All right.
He was an authoritative figure
but yet they loved him.
It was the personalities
of men like Bum Phillips
that gave me my greatest
motivation to be in the NFL.
His ability
to relate to people
in a commonsensical way
is something special.
If he said something,
you listen,
and everybody
paid attention to him.
Everybody in this room
deserves a game ball,
but I don't believe
anybody deserves
-one more number seven.
-Yeah!
He never ever failed
to end with this,
"You just remember, guys,
that when you don't think
anybody loves you,
you just remember
Old Bum loves ya."
We had a bunch of misfits.
He made a difference
in the player on the field
and off the field.
I know that, off the field,
he saved a lot of players
from going to jail.
He didn't care whether
you're a veteran, a rookie.
When you're on that field,
you were there to do a job,
and he made it easy to do
because of his approach.
He said, "Look,
we're gonna come under fire
because we don't do things
that they normally do
in the NFL."
"The way we practice,
the way we train."
That meant a lot.
I don't think
there was any coach
that was more loved
than Bum Phillips.
I played against guys that said,
"Man, how is it
playing for that guy?"
I said, "It's like playing
for your dad, you know?"
"A nice dad."
Houston
is skyline after skyline,
innovative and striking.
Emerging of greenery
and glass,
fountain and mortar,
bayou and freeway.
Houston
Houston means that
I'm a one day closer to you
In the 1970s,
Houston, Texas
was a boom town.
Coming into its own
as the fourth largest city
in the nation, it was the
Energy Capital of the World,
and people all across
the country
were moving to Houston
to find opportunity
and prosperity.
Everywhere you went
in Houston,
there was excitement.
Everybody was doing well.
The economy was great.
People outside of Texas,
they thought everybody
in Houston had an oil well
in their backyard.
And it was the place to be
in the late '70s
and early '80s.
The city of Houston
was really coming into being
as to what it is today.
We're just about to have
Urban Cowboy,
Gilley's.
You have music.
You have culture.
You have Nolan Ryan
coming to the Astros.
The Rockets are great.
It was a wonderful time.
And the Astrodome.
Astrodome,
eighth wonder of the world.
It's a home run.
Nobody had
an indoor stadium.
The Astros built
it for the baseball team
but, you know, you could play
football here on AstroTurf.
I mean, it was crazy.
But for all
its growth and prosperity,
Houston still lacked
one crucial element...
...a winning football team.
In the early '70s,
the Houston Oilers
were the worst team
in pro football,
maybe any kind of football,
in terms of winning.
One season,
they won only one game.
Did fall into
the basement of the NFL,
literally and figuratively.
They started off very well
in 1960
when Bud first started
his team.
Bought the AFL franchise
for $25,000.
They win the first two
AFL Championships
and played for third in 1962
and lost in double overtime.
And so the Oilers got off
to a tremendous start.
And then when the
wheels came off,
I mean,
they came off big time.
Football, it needs to be fun.
And there wasn't a lot
of fun happening.
During the 1972
season in a
shutout loss to the Raiders,
the Oilers delivered
what was widely considered
the worst performancein
Monday Night Football history.
Right there is a vivid
picturization
of the excitement at--
Upon this game.
They're number one
in the nation.
Bud Adams had gone through
eight coaches in 15 years.
So we had Ed Hughes
that we were 4-9-1 with,
my rookie year.
We had Bill Peterson,
who, to this day,
I have no clue
how he ever got a job,
but we were back-to-back
1-13 seasons.
So, you know, I didn't know
how much lower you could go.
I was definitely considering
my other options--
I wondered if it was too late
to call the Mets
to see if I could still try
out as one of their pitchers.
The fanbase had been
so frustrated for so long.
There was probably
a 11-year period in there
where they had ten
losing seasons.
Bud Adams decided
to go out and get Sid Gillman
to come in and try
to organize the program.
Sid brought Bum in
to help get the defense
straightened out.
Sid came along
and Sid was kind of a--
well, he was a dictator.
He walked into the first day
of camp,
and it was a strike year
and the strike was over,
and he says, "We don't have
a democracy here."
He said, "I'm a dictator
and I'm the guy."
So he said, "You, you,
you and you and you, out."
And he cut guys
that were either
representatives at one time
or player representatives
for the players association
or whatnot.
You see a guy come in
one day and that afternoon,
somebody else would get cut.
After just one year
as head coach,
Sid Gillman resigned.
Head coaching
responsibilities were handed
to an East Texas cowboy,
the team's defensive
coordinator, Bum Phillips.
That started things
rolling in Houston.
The 1975 football season
was getting ready to start.
The Oilers had come up
with a brand-new head coach
that nobody ever heard of,
a good old boy
named Oail "Bum" Phillips.
Folks down in Houston
didn't know what to expect.
I actually bucked it.
I went to Bud Adams and said,
"I think you're making
the wrong choice."
Fortunately,
Bud didn't listen to me.
And then unbeknownst to me,
the first time
I met Bum Phillips,
I fell in love with him.
First time in, he says,
"Okay, I want you guys to
get to know each other,
get to know them,
get to know their family."
He said, "Because you guys
want to be like a family."
"You'll fight harder
for your family
than you will your teammates."
A lot of coaches in history
think they have to be
authoritarian and like
a Marine sergeant, you know?
You have to be--
you have to discipline.
But Bum always believed that
the best kind of discipline
was self-discipline
and he believed it was okay
for a coach
to love his players.
Bum asked us on
Saturdays to bring the kids.
Dan, Earl, all of
them know my son.
They helped me raise my son.
I do the same for their kid.
Go. Go.
We try to have
our Saturday practice
and have them bring
the children, their dog,
their wife,
whoever wants to come,
so that they can have
the family entertainment.
Watch out.
You'd get dog bit.
The pressure of winning
and losing isn't as important
as the pressure
of doing the best job you can
because you're fooling with
people that have families,
that have children,
and if you don't do
a good job with them,
you let their families down,
them down.
He always started it off,
"Guys, today, we're a team
but now, tomorrow,
we're gonna be a family."
He loved his players.
He treated them with kindness.
He didn't work them real hard.
I remember every Thursday,
the players would have
a short workout
and then they would bring out
the beer kegs.
And that's what brought that
Oiler team so close together.
There was a true connection
between the Houston Oilers
and their head coach.
They loved him.
They loved him like he was
their high school coach.
Tell me whoever--
was able to produce that.
That was Bum Phillips.
You know, today,
it's all about analytics
and numbers and slot
this guy in here.
They're figures,
they're pieces on a board.
It's a--it's a video game.
I'm gonna insert this guy
for that guy.
The relationship is--
it's not there.
You know, Bum approached it
the good old-fashioned way,
with real authentic
relationships.
The biggest thing
was you had a coach
that you could talk to.
You were glad you played
for a guy like that
'cause you don't have to beat
guys up to make them play.
Go.
I've always been
criticized
for being too easyon my
players, you know, all that.
But everybody used to think
that we just--you know,
we didn't run wind sprints,
so we were too easy on them.
We weren't too easy on them.
I loved my mama
and I knew she loved me,
but she whooped me
when she needed to.
And that's the way
I felt about players.
A lot of coaches can do it.
Most of them either don't
or, you know,
it's just not in their makeup,
but Bum was very special
in that--in that area.
Curfew, I think,
was at 10:30.
It's about 10:15,
and me and a couple other
players were playing pool.
And here comes Bum in
and we immediately said,
"Coach,
we know what time it is."
We're--the dormitory
wasn't five minutes
from where we were.
"We're gonna be on time."
And he goes, "No, you're not."
"Rack them.
Let's play some pool."
And I think we played
for two hours.
And then he told us, he said,
"Just don't tell anybody
you were out this late,
you hear?"
They worked hard.
They practiced hard.
They battled.
But at the end of the day,
they had a blast.
As I became a coach
later in life, you know,
I think we all have our way
we're gonna do things,you know?
Sometimes you say, "Well, you
can't get close to people."
"You can't do"--you know,
yeah, you can, you know?
I mean--and that's the way
I coached my football team.
I trusted my players
or they wouldn't be on my team
and I wanted to have
a good time with them
'cause what we did
was very stressful.
And we were gonna have
some good times
and probably have
a few bad times
but we could enjoy it
along the way,
and Bum taught me that.
I met Coach Phillips when
I was a junior in high school.
So my dad took me down
to Fannin one day
and he walked me in the office
and he introduced me
to Bum Phillips.
And as a kid, he said,"I'm
gonna take you to training camp
and you're gonna work
and work hard
and we're gonna keep
an eye on you."
He told my dad, "I got him."
"He's all mine."
Thirty-eight. Set hut.
I'm working for him
and doing the things
that a kid would do
as a ball boy,
but I'm watching Bum
run his team.
So every day, to me,
it was like I was watching
a God up there, you know?
This is Bum Phillips,
you know?
So I had no idea
someday I'd become a coach.
As my career, moving on
to college and pro football,
I played against him,
I coached against him.
I look back on itand
I think about being put
in that environment.
And I know my dad was
a little concerned about me
just being thrown
as a young kid to San Angelo
for six weeks
but Bum took care of me.
Oail Andrew "Bum"
Phillips was born
in Orange, the
easternmost city in Texas.
Just a nickname,
not a description.
Deep in the Piney Woods,
that's who he was.
He was not a phony cowboy by
any stretch of the imagination.
He grew up
during the depression years,
mostly, in nearby Beaumont.
His first exposure
to football came
when he tried out
for the team
at French High School.
Football was a relief
from tough lives of working,
trying to provide
for your families.
And if you were a player,
there was a whole lot
of respect and adulation
in those towns for the guysthat
played for the-- for the teams.
You know,
the Friday Night Lights,
if you will.
The guys that did that.
And so I think Bum loved
the game of football
and I think handling players--
and, of course,
he had a military background,
so he was a strong individual.
He was a guy that led people
and he led them
by the way he treated them.
World w*r II has broken out.
The Japanese have just
bombed Pearl Harbor.
And he signs up.
He had never been west
of Liberty, Texas.
I mean, this was
a small town boy.
They're sending him
all the way to California
and eventually he'd go allthe
way to the Pacific Theater to
join that w*r.
He wanted to be a
paratrooper but the line
was too long for paratroopers
'cause that's where
all the glamor was.
And he said, "I hate a line."
And so he got out of that line
and went and became
a Marine Raider.
Instead of
parachuting behind enemy lines,
Bum was trained
to conduct guerrilla warfare,
carry out surprise landings,
storm enemy lines,
and hit the beach
in amphibious landings
in the face of enemy fire.
My dad didn't talk
about the w*r a whole lot
but he was
in the South Pacific.
He was in a couple
of places that
a lot of soldiers got k*lled.
The Marine Corps was a duty
but it wasn't a calling.
His discharge papers
came through
on April 21st, 1945,
the year the w*r ended.
Bum Phillips told the
story in his autobiography.
He said, "I couldn't understand
why the drill sergeant
needed to spit in my ear
and try to humiliate me."
"I was there to fight.
He didn't need to do that."
And he said, "I took that
with me into coaching."
"I decided I didn't have
to humiliate a guy to
get him to play better."
"I could show him respect
and he would earn it."
I learned how to coach
from being in the
US Marine Corps.
I learned how not to tell
somebody to do something.
If you have to holler to get
somebody to do something,
they aren't listeningor
you just aren't doing
something right.
I received my share
of criticism
for creating
a family atmosphere.
Reporters and outsiders
believe an NFL head coach
ought to wear a fedora
and intimidate his players.
Coaches should yell,
scream, and cuss.
They said this approach
wasn't for me,
and if you ask 99%
of the players,
it isn't for them either.
We had players that were--
could not have made
any other ball club
or not made any team,
probably.
But Bum came over
and everything changed.
Well, when I first
got the head coaching job,
we didn't have a team.
We had some players
but we didn't have a team.
Well, now we've got some
individuals that can play
and they're also
a team of people.
I think it takes
a combination of utilizing
the free agents,
the draft choices,
and the trades.
Bum's players
came from places
most NFL teams overlooked,
small colleges,
HBCUs, the Canadian Football
League, and even Austria.
Nine years ago,Tony was
playing soccer in Vienna,
but, still, he looks morelike a
cab driver than
a football player.
His teammates sayhe has the
worst body in the league.
The good thing is I don't
have to win a beauty contest,
only a kicking contest.
Bum] We had free agencyand we
picked up a couple guys
like C.L. Whittington and
Billy "White Shoes" Johnson
and guys that walked on,
Jim Young, who was a fireman.
The guy was huge.
Man, some guys
couldn't play for other teams
but they played for Bum
'cause you always rise
to the level.
That was the thing about Bum.
He was more of a teacher
instead of a coach.
When I got
to the Houston Oilers
as a professional,
I looked at Bum
because I was so paranoid
as a kid coming to Houston,
first of all,
for someone that I could trust
and go to with anything.
Bum was like my father figure.
If I went to Bum
with a question,
and I was at that age
where I had a lot of questions
and a lot of doubts
about life,
Bum would answer
all of those things for me.
You had to get good players
but you had to get
good players
to play hard for you
and want to play hard for you.
There's a difference.
Discipline's a funny word.
The main thing in discipline is
to get somebody to do something,
not beat them
because they don't.
It's to get them to do it.
That's all discipline
is all about.
If I'm not adverse
to disciplining a guy,
I would just like to try
to do it the easy way.
That's just the way
I feel about it.
If I can get them to do
the same thing another way,
then I'll get them to do it
another way.
I don't think you're having
a lot of fun on the field
and playing freely
if you don't really like
the guy that
you're playing for.
And I think great coaches--
there's different ways
to inspire players, right?
You can scare
the heck out of them.
That could be one way
to inspire them.
Or you could treat them
like professionals
and respect them
where they reciprocate
with hard effort
on every single play,
diving for tackles,
diving for interceptions.
He knew each and every button
on each player to push,
get them to perform better.
And it was--
it didn't take much.
And he always made it
a fact to me that,
"Hey, do what you do best.
Catch the ball and run."
The day we played in Miami,
and that was a big game.
You know,
Don Shula and-- you know,
they were pretty good.
They were coming to town.
And we were both contending
for a higher ranking.
I get to get to the playoffs.
When I went out there,
I just felt good.
I just did
what I normally did.
And all of a sudden I got
a opening and I took off.
Get back. Get back.
Get back. Get back. Get back.
Get them!
Get them! Get them!
Go, Billy!
Come on, Billy!
Come on, Billy!
Come on, Billy!
Oh!
Whoa!
Woo.
Have you seen
anything like it?
Oh!
Oh. Wow.
Wow. Wow.
Not until I saw
the replay that I understand,
man, how excited he was.
He wanted-- he wanted
to beat Don Shula, you know,
'cause that's always been
one of the premier coaches
in the NFL at that time.
-Hell of a job, young man.
-Thank you, coach.
You're ten-foot tall
going down that field.
But from then
on he said,
"You do whatever you gotta do
to return the ball."
Bum made it easy for you.
You know, if you couldn't do
something, well, why do it?
'Cause you ain't gonna play
your best
if you gotta think
about something
or if you got to really
work hard to get it done.
The best way to do things
is the simplest way
for an athlete to be his best.
That's it.
People really
don't know, I don't think,
about my dad's innovations
in football.
He had a numbering system
for the defensive players.
Two technique, three
technique, four technique.
If you've heard those numbers
before, he invented those.
One tech,
three tech, five tech,
all of the numbers
where you line up,
that came from Bum Phillips,
which is super cool
'cause we still use
that terminology today.
He made a lasting impact
on the game of football,
at the high school, college,
and professional level.
In the early days,
a 4-3 defense that
Bum ran at that time,
it was called a numbers
defense to describe
not only where a player
lines up
but, in many cases,
the technique that he'd use.
So a player that lined up--
head up to the center
would be a zero technique.
If he was inside the guard,
he'd be a two technique.
If he was outside the guard,
he'd be a three,
and all way on out
to where he lined up.
Bum always believed
simple was better
than complicated.
And that number set up
he developed,
especially for that
3-4 defense,
was just-- almost pure genius.
If they don't worry about
mistakes and worry about the
next play,
then we'll have good
defensive team.
If you get them so conscious
of mistakes though,
that it takes away
the initiative
and their recklessness,
then we wouldn't have.
So our job isn't--
is to not get him to worry
and let them relax
and go play football.
Because he started
the number defense,
he had gained a reputation,
uh, for being innovative.
And coaches in Texas
especially,
he was well-known even though
he was a high school coach
for a lot
of his early career.
In 1950, Bum began
his coaching career,
not far from Houston,
but very far from the NFL
at Nederland High School.
Bum's success was that
he was hungry to learn
all he could
about the game of football.
And when he'd take a day off
instead of going fishing
or doing something like that,
he would-- he would drive up
to College Station
to watch A&M practice
and try to learn
some football.
Every Thursday,
faithfully he was
in College Station
to watch Texas A&M practice
and talked to Bear Bryant.
Over that period of time,
Bear Bryant became
so impressed with Bum
that he hired him to be an
assistant coach at Texas A&M.
Bear quickly picked up
on how sharp Bum was,
especially about defense.
I was nine years old here.
Every time I'd see him,
he'd say, "I remember
when you had that little
striped hat on, you know."
So what a great picture
to have Coach Bryant
and my dad.
So when Bear goes to
Alabama after the 57 season,
he wants Bum to go with him.
The list of guys
who turn Bear Bryant down
can't be very long.
You go with Bear Bryant,
you're going to the top
in college football.
Bum Phillips wasn't leaving
the state of Texas.
After declining to
join Bear Bryant in Alabama,
Bum coached throughout Texas
following stints
in Jacksonville and Amarillo.
He settled the family
in the small town
of Port Neches, Texas.
Port Neches.
My dad said,
"Well, I'm gonna retire here,
you know,
I'm gonna be the coach
and then I'm gonna be the AD
and we're gonna retire here."
I think he was trying to sell
us all the kids on,
"Hey, we're gonna be here
in Port Neches for a while."
And we were for two years.
I think I moved 11 times
by the time I was 18.
My dad wouldn't tell us ahead
of time we were moving
because we would
probably cry or whatever.
So sometimes you'd beat
school and all of a sudden
they'd come over the PA system
that they need you to come
to the office and, uh,
there'd be a moving van
in the driveway.
So yeah,
it was a little difficult.
A lot of these daddy
and I at University of Houston
when he coached the--
my sophomore year
he coached defense for us.
And so I played for him there.
Bum was a-- if you wanna
call it an understudy
or an assistant coach
to some legendary
football coaches
in the college ranks.
Bear Bryant doesn't get
any bigger than that.
Hall of Famer, Bill Yeoman
at the University of Houston,
Hayden Fry.
He saw
all of these great minds
and like every coach
out there,
they take bits and pieces
from their mentors,
from people
that they've studied under.
And they've somehow
then taken all of that
as a compositeand
made it their own.
But Bum created a
defensive game plan
that is still alive and well
and efficient in the NFL.
Wade Phillips, Bum's son,
also worked his way up
the college ranks
coaching under Bill Yeoman
at the University of Houston
and later at Oklahoma
State and Kansas.
He was there a year
and then he hired me
from, uh, University of Kansas.
And so I came in just as
things started rolling.
He joined the Oilers
as an assistant coachin 1976.
Wade went through,
uh, kind of a hazing process.
He had probablyone
of the easiest jobs
on the team when coaching
the defensive line
when he first came
because, you know,
he had three out of four
Hall of Famers out of that.
The hardest thing
he had to go through
was Elvin Bethea's abuse.
Elvin was not easy on Wade.
Here's Wade,
his first year
out of, uh,
University of Houston.
Wade a rookie coach,
and here we are with players,
the guy that played four,
five years.
Bum came in there one day
and Wade was--
he's at the board, he's marking,
"Here's what you gotta do,
go in here, go into there."
And so, uh, Bum told him,
"Wade, just get them in shape,
they know what the hell
they're doing."
And right in front of Wade,
and I think that sure
brought him-- brought him
down to earth.
One time, Wade was out there,
uh, trying to coach,
it was one of the first days
he was the line coach
and he was trying to get
Elvin and Curley Culp
and some of these guys,
uh, to run through this drill.
Well, it was
in the middle of the week
and they weren't too
interested in doing the drill,
so they werekind
of milling around.
And Elvin looked up
at the tower and he said,
"Hey, Bum,get
control of Wade here.
He's coaching his butt off."
And he wasn't
coaching anybody.
They weren't doing anything.
Wade was excited,
really excited to be here
and be with his dad.
He knew he was gonna have
to prove himself
and Bum had told him that he's
gonna have to prove himself.
He told him that
in high school,
"You're gonna have to prove
to everybody
that you're good enough
to play before I play you,"
and that's what he did.
Wade had
a great defensive mind,
uh, coming from his dad.
And so it didn't take Wade
very long to convince people
that he knew
what he was doing.
Well, it's a lot easier
probably for me, uh,
because I've argued with him
all my life, you know,
so it's easy for me
to go ahead and say something.
A lot of other coaches
don't always do that,
so, uh, being a son helps--
you know, helps in that way.
Bum talkeda little bit
more than Wade,
I felt like, you know, he was
a little bit more outgoing
and those type of things.
But both of them--
the thing with both of them,
to me,
is just how much respect
they garnished around people
because they're so brightand
they treat people so good,
they presenteda sense of calm.
When you're a head coach
and you're running
a crazy pro football team
or a crazy environment
and they look at
you and they see you
have it all under control,
that's the greatest
strength you can have,
and both of them are that way.
Under Bum's leadership,
the Oilers were transformed.
By 1978, they were tough
and unified.
Dan Pastorini and
he goes long and he's got Earl.
Earl...
Commanding respect
from every opponent,
they saw themselves
as contenders for the title.
And so did their city.
But to compete
in the AFC Central
and get to the Super Bowl,
the Oilers would have
to deal with a dynasty.
As Bum said at the time,
the road to the Super Bowl
goes through Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Steelers
emerged from the '70s
with pro football's
most clearly
defined personality.
They were the men in black,
the intimidators.
They rose above the elements
and their opponents
to take the NFL by storm.
Bum used to say
that the road
to the Super Bowl
goes through Pittsburgh.
And that was true.
Pittsburgh was so incredibly
good at that time.
It didn't matter
how good we were,
or how good they were,
or how bad both of us were.
It was a tough ball game.
Every game was so tough.
First time
Joe Greene ever hit me
was when I was rookie
in Pittsburgh.
He broke three
transverse processes
and those were little bones
that stick out
from your vertebra.
He broke three of them
on one shot.
I couldn't go to the
bathroom for a week.
They were competitive
with everyone.
And the two teams
became bitter rivals.
And, uh, it was hard
to beat them in Houston,
hard to beat them in Pittsburg.
But if any team
could beat Pittsburgh,
it was Houston.
They were that good.
Houston and Pittsburgh
were arguably,
for a couple years there,
the two best teams in the NFL.
You had Dan Pastorini
who was a very
underrated quarterback
and a tremendous leader.
You had players onthe
efensive side of the ball, too.
There were playmakers
and forces and hall of famers.
And it was a roster
that was united,
believed in their coach,
and there was just one thing
that was in their way.
Pittsburgh. And the Steelers
were in their prime.
In New York City today,
the National Football League
began its 43rd annual draft
of college players.
Houston selects
on the first round,
Earl Campbell,
running back, Texas.
I'd like to say hello
to everyone,
and I'm very proud to be
a part of the Houston Oilers.
Late today in Houston,
Campbell officially sealed
his agreement
with the Oilers.
Kid's a class
football player
and that's the kind of
quality football player
is what you gotta get.
You gotta have a good draft,
but you gotta have
some quality players,
and he's one of them.
The reporter asked him--
told him one time, he says,
"Earl Campbell
sure does get up slowly
when he's tackled,"
and Bum says, "Yeah, buddy,
goes damn pretty slowly too."
We played
a preseason game
and there were some people
that came out and said,
"Well, Earl Campbell
may be a bust."
In fact, Eddie Biles,
a defensive coordinator
with us, and he said,
"Earl Campbell is fixing
to get welcomed to the NFL."
I said, "Oh, okay."
First play,
I believe the first play
went 77 yards for a touchdown.
After the game,
I went over to Eddie Biles
and I put my arm around him
and I said, "Eddie,
NFL just got welcomed
to Earl Campbell."
And here goes Earl Campbell.
Watch out!
He knocked
Robertson on his back.
Watch out!
Beautiful. Beautiful.
He's down to the five!
- Oh, what a runner.
- Oh.
They're going
wild in Houston.
Oh.
And we knew then
that when we got Big Earl
that we were really
going to get better.
And, um, well, you didn't have
to hold your block a long time
when Earl was in the backfield.
Now 7-4, the Oilers
return to the Astrodome
to host Don Shula's
Miami Dolphins
for a Monday night
football game
that would kick off
a whole new era
for Houston and the Oilers.
This shotfrom
the top of the
Astrodome in Houston, Texas.
Tonight's attraction is
one of the hottest seconds
in recent yearshere in Houston.
commentator 2] We spoke a short
while ago
about the almost carnival,
collegiate atmosphere
here in the Astrodome,
almost every fan has a blue
and white pompoms,
symbolic of the colorsof their
Houston Oilers football team.
They really love
that Luv Ya Blue.
To this day,
people always trying to say,
"Hey, write
'Luv ya, Blue' on that,
uh, 'We love you, Blue'."
What is it about
that Luv Ya Blue?
I don't know,
I just heard it from the fans.
Luv Ya Blue is born in '78.
I remember being
introduced down there,
and as I'm looking out
into the stands,
from the rafters all the way
down to every seat,
on the sidelines
and everywhere,
you could see nothing
but blue pompoms
and these blue placard cards,
"Luv ya, Blue."
And people were
just going crazy.
I could say I was
in town at the Astrodome,
they passed out
the baby blue pompoms
and the crowd was rocking.
The crowd behind me roaring,
pompoms everywhere in display
as the Houston Oilers
are about to be introduced.
Luv Ya Blue seemed
like a phenomenon.
Like it was Houston's
version of Beatlemania.
The Luv Ya Blue started
with the team doing
well, certainly,
and we were winning
the Monday night game,
the all-time best
Monday night game ever.
When they got into that
Luv Ya Blue and they started
the "Houston Oilers,
Houston Oilers,"
golly, whoever was playing
them was in trouble.
Toni Fritsch,
having a big year
as a placekicker,
will get this game underway.
Hello again, everyone.
We think tonight
we've got
about as good a matchup
as you could have in
the National Football League
at this stage of the season.
Campbell... we're good.
Six points.
It was one of those games
whoever had the ball last
is gonna win.
So we finally got the ball
at about two minutes
or so to go,
and Bum says, "Just get
a couple first downs,"
but believe me, I know.
So we went out
and tossed to Earl
outside the right side.
commentator] Just a great game.
On second and eighth.
Campbell just outrunseverybody
to the right. Look out.
He's gone! He's gone!
He may take
it all the way.
Touches it down.
Eighty-yard touchdown,
this is over.
What a show this man
have put on tonight.
All right.
And he goes 80 yards
for a touchdown,
and we're out there
for one play.
And I remember walking
off the field,
I'm looking at Bum like this,
and he goes, "We're seven
points. It's good."
Unbelievable game.
Earl ices it in
the fourth quarter
and the crowd went wild.
It just propelled
the whole city, I think.
Look out, America,
here comes Houston.
America'sfastest-growing city.
And right now, in this arena,
America's football team.
We could not have
beaten Miami at Miami.
We beat them in Houston
because-- when I say we,
I mean everybody,
I don't mean just the team,
I mean the people, the crowd,
everything.
That's what beaten Miami,
not just the football players.
The town and the football team
came together at the right time.
I mean, you couldn't go
to any place in the city
and not get recognized.
Everybody in the city
knew every player,
was happy with whatever player.
You know, it's a great thing.
It's still a great thing.
The Luv Ya Blue phenomenon,
the beauty of itwas
that for a fanbase
that had been so frustrated
with all the losing,
and now all of a sudden,
this feels like Camelot.
There's something
Going 'round
Something going 'round
Down in Houston town
Down in Houston town
Several of
the Oiler players were there
to hear Burrough's
singing debut
and his new record,
"Super Bowl Itch."
Yeah
Contagious as can be
There's no immunity
Reaching a fever pitch
It's called
The Super Bowl Itch
Bum Phillips was
absolutely the prototype
for everything
that was happening
in the late '70s in Houston.
And everywhere you
went,
people were wearingcowboy hats,
they were wearing boots.
Everybody wore
cowboy hats and boots
like Bum and the Oilers did.
"You know, he got me
wearing cowboy boots,"
a guy said one time,and a hat.
And this guy was likefrom
Detroit or something like that.
Let Campbell
Get the praise
Honey
Just give me the raise
Money
Reaching a fever
pitch
Heart, heart
It's called
The Super Bowl Itch
People across
the United States
were taking notice going,
"God, they have a lot
of fun down there."
And that was Bum
and Luv Ya Blue.
The town went crazy.
It became, you know,
fashionable to wear,
uh, cowboy boots
and cowboy hats in New York
at the nightclubs
they had up there.
Luv Ya Blue
galvanizedthe city of Houston.
Bum was the figureabove it all
and we're takingon the world.
It really rallied
the city as one.
And that's when
sport is at its best.
Scratching
Makes it worse
Dan] We were taking onnot only
the rest of the NFL,
we were taking on the nation.
This is Houston,
this is the Oilers,
and we're allin this together.
There's just one remedy
Just one remedy
And all the victory
The Oilers, have
extended their lead
13 to 3, eleven ten
remaining in the game...
Riding the wave
of Luv Ya Blue mania,
the Oilers entered
the playoffs as a wildcard,
eliminating the Broncos
and Patriots on their march
to the AFC Championship game.
We got the Super Bowl itch
Yeah, the Super Bowl
We would never
see the playoffs
from that day
that I came to the Oilers
until 1978,
there were no playoffs.
Uh, but things changed.
And the weather miserable.
A steady rain coming down.
It's been raining
since early this morning
and the weatherman says
it may get colder
and then snow
in the second half.
In 1978,
I played a horrible game.
It was the most miserable
day to play football.
We were just
sleeting and it's wet
and it's just horrible day.
We haven't seen
enough of Earl Campbell
to know if he could
run on this field.
We do know that
Franco could run on it
and he just took it
on into the end zone.
And so that takes
Earl's running game away.
Earl didn't do much
because he-- well,
he might as well
be on ice skates.
I think I threw
four or five interceptions
and-- you know,
this is the championship game
and go to the Super Bowl,
and I just felt horrible.
The field
was miserable.
It was a miserable day.
That's not the reason
they lost--
the Pittsburgh Steelers
were a dynasty.
But the reason
they got blown out so bad
is 'cause they couldn't
run the ball.
The weather shut down Earl.
The slick field shut down Earl.
Pittsburgh didn't.
We had too many turnovers
against a good team
and a better team won today.
And, uh, that's all we can say.
I came into Bum's office
the next day
and I just said, "Look,
if I'm the problem,
get rid of me,
because I'm--
heard a lot of buzz
through the media
and everything else that,
you know,
if it was anybody's fault,
it was my problem,"
which is rightly so
because I was the quarterback.
But I said,
"I love you too much
and I love this team too much.
If I'm the problem,
get rid of me.
Trade me.
I'll go someplace else.
I do not wanna
hold this team back
and what you built here."
He said,
"I'll make you a deal."
He says, "You stick around
one more year,"
he says, "I got a really
good feeling about this year."
And he said,
"If you still feel the same
way at the end of the year,
so I'll trade you
anywhere you wanna go."
I said, "Are you sure?"
He said, "Yes."
I said, "Okay."
After Pittsburgh claimed
their third championship
of the decade,
the Oilers kicked offthe
1979 season with a vengeance.
Earl Campbell smashed his
way through the league
in what would be
an MVP season
and Houston seemed destined
for another playoff run.
Meanwhile, back in Houston,
Luv Ya Blue was everywhere.
Fans even had an anthem.
'Cause we're
The Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers, number one
YesWe're the Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers, number one
At 9-3, Oilers
were on a roll
by Thanksgiving
when they took on that
other team from Texas
with the entire
country watching.
Here we go. Here we go.
Fake to Campbell.
Plenty of time. Burrough.
Touchdown. Ken Burrough.
Bum Phillips has his team
headed toward the playoffs.
By week 15,
the Oilers were peaking
just at the right time.
On the eve of the playoffs,
Houston defeated Pittsburgh
in a primetime matchup
between the league's
two best teams.
Oh, an easy
straight to the end zone.
That iced it.
Ending the regular
season one
game behind the Steelers,
the Oilers would againenter
the playoffs as a wildcard.
Victories over the Broncos
and the Chargers
earned them a
second straight trip
to the AFC Championship
and a shot at redemption.
I get a knock at the door,
he says,
"Bum would like to see you."
Bum would like to-- Now
we're getting ready to play
in the game that determines
who goes to the Super Bowl.
I just walked right
into their locker room.
There they are, playing music,
all the players.
"Hey Terry,"
and I'm shaking hands.
Totally...
something you just don't do.
In all my 14 years, I never
went into a visitor's locker
room before the game.
Uh, never after either.
Bum says, "Hey, man."
He gives me a big old hug.
"Good luck today.
Don't play that good,"
da, da, da.
We had some fun with it.
And he gives me a box
and inside that box was a pair
of ostrich powder
blue cowboy boots.
Beautiful.
And I'm like, wow.
Now, I'm trying to
psychologically put this gift
in its proper perspective.
Why?
Why is he giving me
a gift before the
championship game?
But they were gorgeous.
I agree with you.
I think we've got a great game.
I agree with a lot of people
that today is the Super Bowl
because the NFL's two best
are playing here today.
At game time
on January 6th, 1980,
the temperaturein
Three Rivers Stadium
was a frigid 26 degrees.
We were playing a smart game.
We didn't wanna put
our defense
into bad situation,
didn't wanna turn
the ball over
in our territory.
Good protection.
Intercepted, Vernon Perry.
Or he might go all the way.
And I'm wounded
to begin with.
I've got a ruptured
groin and I can't move.
And I told the team
before the game, I said,
"Guys, I can't move.
Just keep 'em off me."
And I said, "We're gonna have
to do a lot of short passes,
kind of quick hitting stuff."
And it was going pretty well.
Now we get down
the end of the third quarter
and that pass to Mike Renfro
on the cornerof the end zone.
We're down by a touchdown,
Pastorini throws
it in the corner.
With a minute and
a half
remainingin the third quarter,
the Oilers'
six yards away from a tie.
It is Renfro.
Touchdown. Or is it?
Mike Renfro makes a catch
that I don't know
if any other player
then or now could make.
He's pretty good at catching
the ball around the sidelines
and felt good about that was
gonna be a catch when I came up
from the snow.
Looked like it was out of
the end zone and nobody could
catch it.
And then all of a sudden,
he caught itat the last second,
so I don't think the officials
were ready for that.
Donald Orr, the referee,
looked like he'd seen a ghost.
I'm jumpingup and down saying,
"Give us the call.
I made a touchdown."
Little booing,
little cheering was going on,
but the referees decided
to all gather
under the goalpost.
Obviously, there was
no instant replay yet,
so they had no access to it.
NFL executives back in New York
had access to the TV replay
as all of America did.
It was very close, but it
became clear I made the catch.
Even the announcers were saying,
"This is a great time
for instant replay."
We had a TV in the box
and it replayed the play.
And then we knew it was in.
Now, there's
no question about this.
He's got control.
He has both feet down
clearly in the end zone.
It is a touchdown.
Of course,
the officials do not have...
the luxury that we enjoy
of seeingthat instant replay.
The man on the
spot didn't see it
so he couldn't call it.
And now the Oilers
are denied a touchdown.
Are you...
You son of a...
To this day,
it's the most
controversial play
in NFL history
at the worst possible time
in the most important game.
That would've tied the score
at the end of the third quarter
going into the fourth quarter.
So now we're playing catch up
and you just don't playcatch up
against the Pittsburgh Steelers
'cause they're just gonna
come and put their ears back
and come after you,
which they did.
And we fell short,
they beat us.
The final score,
the Champion,
Pittsburgh Steelers, 27,
the Houston Oilers, 13.
Yeah, I may get fined for it,
but that was a bad call.
We scored.
We scored on that play.
Right there.
He's right, that foot.
Watch the head where he's...
I believe
a policeman when he stops me.
I believe in doing what's right.
Well, officials have
always been right.
I mean, I have to
accept what they say.
If I don't know better,
I have to accept it.
I didn't know better,
so I had to accept it.
I've seen the film and
I do not accept it.
Now, they were wrong.
When you win a Super Bowl,
so many things have
to go your way.
Injuries, momentum,
you have to...
peak at the right time
at the end of a long season,
it's hard to do.
Also, you have to
get the breaks.
You get good calls,
you get bad calls.
And we got, um...
Bum, didn't get 'em.
But he never complained.
He took it on the chin.
It was class.
He was a class act.
If we'd have had
to play them in Houston?
Hmm.
With that crowd
and that Luv Ya Blue...
it would've been...
I don't wanna sell my team short
and I'm not gonna do that,
but let's just say
we hadn't beat them
two years in a row down there.
We're riding back in the plane
and I'm sitting there thinking,
"My God, what do we have
to do to beat these guys?"
And here comes Bum
walking up the aisle.
Now, I've had a couple of
scotches and a couple beers.
And he comes up to me,
grabs me, and puts his
hand on my shoulder,
and looks at me in the eyes.
And he says,
"Daniel," he said,"You're
a warrior and I love you."
I said, "Thanks, coach."
And he says,
"You still wanna be traded?"
Now, what would you think
if your head coach
and your guy that you
thought the world of
just said that to you?
So how I'm reading it is that,
"My God,
you really do wanna trade me."
I said,
"Yeah, maybe it's the best."
Wade] We were supposedto come
back, win or lose,
to the Astrodome.
And nobodywanted
to come back here.
I mean, they said, no, we--
you know, let's don't do it.
And he said,
"No, we gave him our word,"
and that's the way he was.
He said,
"We gave him our word,
we're gonna go."
And so we're going there.
Oilers! Houston Oilers!
Houston Oilers!
Houston Oilers!
- Hello. Hello.
- Oilers!
- What's up, brother?
- Thank you, man.
Let's go. Come on.
All right.
All right. All right.
Dozens
of police officers struggled
to keep the excited
fans away from the team.
But for some people
in the crowd,
the excitement was too much.
The fans who could not
make it inside the terminal
paraded around the
place in their cars,
chanting and waving pompoms
and Luv Ya Blue cards.
Luv Ya Blue!
We're number one!
We're number one!
We're number one!
When you get beat
twice in a row, not once,
in Pittsburgh,
and you come back home
and there's tensof
thousands at the airport.
There were cars
parked on the median
all the wayfrom the
airport to there.
And then there were people
in the yards
and on the front
porches all the way.
And then when we got
to the stadium,
there were 20,000 people
that could not get in.
They just stood on the outside
and clapped and waved,
I guess.
And then there were 80,000
people inside the Dome.
Everybody could
crowd in, crowded in,
and they wouldn't leave
once they got in.
When we came in here,
it was so packed with people.
We were in the buses,
in the car,
you couldn't hearyourself talk.
You had to yell
in order to hear,
it was that loud
with the windows up.
But this place went--
It was-- it was rocking.
I mean,
it was actually shaking.
The city came to
celebrate our loss.
And then, of course,
Bum steps up on the platform.
One year ago,
we knocked on the door.
This year,
we beat on the door.
Next year,
we're gonna kick the son of a
in.
I've had great experiences,
won a Super Bowl,
you know, great-great wins,
but this wasn't even
a football game.
I mean,
the whole friggin' city
turned out for that,
and that was the beauty of it.
We lost. Can you imagine what
would have happened if we won?
To watch a city connect
with a group of people,
not just a team,
but a group of people,
you know, you look backon those
things, it's really special.
It was pandemonium.
Players were crying.
Some of the coaches
were crying, maybe me.
A disappointing loss,
but still a majestic
and dramatic welcome
like last year, huh?
Oh, I can't believe it.
I really can't believe it.
I know that you guys
have got to have hard feelings
about that call today,
and a lot of people here feel
we should have won that game.
I thought it was something else.
It is something else.
Welcome back home.
Two weeks later,
I'm trading for Stabler.
And, you know,
Bum and Stabler
built a good relationship
while Kenny was here.
Bum] I thinkour football team,
for the first time
that I've been here,
has honestly and sincerely
got a chance to win it all.
This is the year,
then, to kick that door down?
You know,
that's what we intend to do.
1980 was another
Luv Ya Blue love affair.
The Oilers ended
the regular season
with a record of 11-5.
They looked more than ready
to deliver on Bum's promise
to kickthat son of a b*tch in.
They made it to the playoffs,
where they took on
the Oakland Raiders and lost.
It wasthe third year in a
row the Oilers were eliminated
by the eventual
Super Bowl champions.
So The Post
had sent me up to cover
the Cotton Bowlon
January 1st, 1981.
Middle of the day
on New Year's Eve
and one of the reporters
says, "Hey, Kenny,
did you know your, uh,
your Oilers owner just
fired Bum Phillips?"
I said, "Get out of here.
You're so full of it.
He didn't fire--
they didn't fire--
He says, "Yeah,
you better call the office.
They fired Bum Phillips."
I said, "They didn't fire Bum.
Nobody's gonna
fire Bum Phillips.
He just won 11 games."
In the state of Texas, it
was felt that only two people
have more job security
than Bum Phillips.
They were Tom Landry with
the Dallas Cowboys and God.
I think one
of those two are safe.
So tell Tom Landry
to watch out
because today,
Bum Phillips was fired
as coach and general manager
of the Houston Oilers.
We want Bum!
We want Bum! We want Bum!
We want Bum! We want Bum!
I'm sure
that Bum was surprised.
I don't think he
was expecting it.
- Were you surprised?
- Yes.
Bum was a legend
in the City of Houston
and a legend
in the State of Texas.
And he had
nationwide following.
It's gonna be very difficult
and very unpopular decision.
And whoever is sitting in here
and having to make the decisions
to name his successor
is gonna be in a tough role.
He's been here
four or five years
and had a winner ever,
you know,
ever since he's been here
and loses one ballgame
and goes, huh?
I hate to say that.
Did you have any
inkling what was gonna happen?
No. No, I thought I was going
in to renegotiate a contract.
By being let go today,
is it also losing
more than a job?
You know, you can't spend the
seven years that I've spent here
with as many good times
as we've had
and as many thrills as we've had
and as many games
that we've won
and players that have really
laid it on the line for you.
You can't--
you know, you can't spend
six, seven years
with those guys
in this town without it
always being part of you.
And Houstonwill
always be part of me.
We want Bum!
We want Bum!
That was a sad day
when they fired Bum
because I think it took,
like, the breath out
of the City of Houston.
You know, why would you
do that when we're winning?
If Bud Adamshadn't
left Bum alone,
I believe we'd won the
Super Bowl the next year.
Bum Phillips did a remarkable
job the past three years for the
Houston Oilers.
He brought the team into
the playoffs three times.
And his dismissal last week came
as quite a shock to everybody.
But I understand he's got
some plans for the future.
Would you welcome,
Bum Phillips.
What a--
you know, being a coach,
whether it's professional
or in collegiate sports,
has got to be a very hairy job
because you did a remarkable
job with the ball club,
brought them to the
playoffs three times,
and all of a sudden,
they say you're out.
-Now--
-They meant it too.
Yeah, I guess they did.
Did that come as
a surprise to you?
- More a shock than a surprise.
- Yeah.
I thought I was going
down there to renegotiate.
Yeah.
It didn't work out that way,
but, you know, that's life.
That's the owner's prerogative,
-Right.
-I'm not bitter about it.
I'm a little upset about
the way they did it,
but not the fact
that they did it,
because that's their right.
I don't care.
-That happens in all
professional activities.
I'll get another job.
-Sure. Sure.
-But...
I guess they feel that
if you're not a
winner all the time,
but everybody can't be
a winner every year.
There has to be somebody
who comes in second
or not make the playoffs.
There's just two
kinds of coaches.
Yeah.
That's them that's been fired
and them that's gonna get fired.
-And I've been both.
-Yeah.
narrator] Bum was quickly hired
by the New Orleans Saints,
and Wade joined him
as defensive coordinator.
Bum was nowthe
head coach of a team
that had gone 1-15
in the previous season
and had struggled,
just like the Oilers.
We just kinda
was straight-laced team,
but all of a sudden, everybody
started wearing boots.
We went to Houston
to play with the Oilers,
so Bum's going back to play.
And this was a funny week,
because Bum
got up in front of us
beginning of the week.
He said, "Okay,
this is gonna bea normal week.
We're gonna treat it
like a normal week,
and this is justanother game."
We had pregame meal at 9:00
and Bum got up.
He said, "All right.I've
been telling you all week."
He said, "This isn't--
nothing special.
This is just another game."
He goes, "Bullshit.
This is life or death."
He says-- He said,
"It's my life or your death."
We beat themand he
was pretty happy.
I was happythat we could go
back and win that game for him.
This is what's interesting.
Look how many players
come over and shake his hand
and wanna be a partof this man.
He's affecteda lot
of people's lives.
And when he left,
I think he took an awful
lot of emotions with him.
narrator] The Saints' best year
under Bum was in 1983
when they went 8-8,
the way Bum put it.
We never recapturedthe
Luv Ya Blue phenomenon
in Louisiana,
but you couldn't bottle it
and move it just anywhere.
Bum Phillips should
have stayed in Houston.
He had no business leaving.
Kinda like myself, the one year
I went down to New Orleans.
Football just wasn't that
interesting to me no more.
But when I was in Houston,
football was real
interesting to me.
I mean,
I loved every bit of it.
Twelve weeks
into the '85 season,
the Saints were 4-8.
The decision
was mine and mine alone.
My job here was to
win football games.
And my job here was to
provide a winning season.
I didn't do that.
I'd like to especially thank
the players who played the game
for and against me,
my coaching staff,
and all the fans.
And I'll even miss the
ones that threw beer on me.
Because at least they
got mad enough to be--
I mean, got--
they cared enough to be mad.
Just got one last word for you,
let's just load the wagon and
don't worry about the mule.
Oop. Now, I forgot it.
To get out here and get
on your cutting horse,
that's getting away for you.
Yeah, I can forget football
and forget everybodyfor
a little while out here.
I miss football.
I miss the association.
I don't miss coaching, no.
I quit coaching because
I wanted to come do this.
Didn't nobody tell me
you can't coach no more.
I quit voluntarily.
I had to-- I bought
the three-year contract
at $450,000
and gave it back to them
and told them, "Adios."
I never took
anything in my life.
I didn't earn it,
I wasn't gonna earn it,
so I just bought
it and walked out.
This one--
this one when he
was with the Saints.
We were with the Saints
right there.
I think he's got his hat on
that says Bum's Bunch
on the hat.
This is when I took over
as head coach
the last three games
with the--
with the Saints
after my dad retired.
We had a big game.
We beat the Rams 29-3,
and they actually won
the division that year.
So that was my first game
as any kind of head coach.
Tell us about your
coaching experiences now.
You've been with several teams.
You were with the Broncos,
the Bills, the Chargers.
You can go through that
for us as a head coach,
-I know, a couple of times.
-Right.
I was, of course,
with the Luv Ya Blue Oilers.
And then we went to New Orleans.
And I was lucky to be
with my dad, certainly,
for ten years coaching.
And I think, you know,
your dad influences you a lot,
but certainly your head
coach influences you.
So I had both of them in one
and that was a great
experience for me.
You know,
those ten years of coaching
will be the bestI've ever had.
The Luv Ya Blue period
just really lasted
three years,
but I thinkthose
three years of success
really helped
propel Wade forward
as a future NFL coach.
Well, let's see if--
oh, here it is right here.
I've got different
teams obviously,
but Philadelphia,when
I went to Philadelphia,
uh, to coach with Buddy Ryan,
we got the Charger,
we got the Texans.
Coaching with
the Texans was-- I mean,
to be a good defense
like we were,
takes a lot
of good players. But...
the one special one
certainly was J.J. Watt.
J.J.] I wasn't very goodearly
n my career as a training camp,
but they kept giving me a shot.
There's this move I usedto do,
you're technically
not supposed to do
'cause you're out of your gap
and you're not doingwhat you're
supposed to do.
And I would do it
and I'd make a play.
And then Wade would yell at me
and the D-line coach
would yell at me.
And then I would do it again
and I'd make a play.
And Wade would yell at me.
The D-line coach
would yell at me.
And then the third time
I did it, I made the play.
Wade came over
to the D-line, he said,
"All right. You can do that.
And nobody else is
allowed to do it."
And that was just kind of one
of those things where he adapted
and he let me do
what I was doing.
Um, but-- 'cause he knew
that I wasn't gonna do it
in a bad situation
and put us in a tough spot.
For Wade Phillips,
the legendary coach
to say that you're
gonna be a Hall of Famer
after your first year,
it put a lotof pressure on me,
but it put a lot of pressure
on me in a good way.
He knew that would motivate me,
um, instead of put too
much pressure on me.
man] First questionI wanna ask
you is,
who's the best defensive
coordinator in the NFL today?
Wade Phillips.
I was gonna prompt
you if you didn't.
I think Bum
put it to me like this,
my ceiling with the three four
has been his floor.
He's taken it to
a whole new level.
And some of my best moments
is sitting with Bumat his home
and watching Wadeon
TV coaching a game
and hearing Bum's comments
about Wade on defense.
He called me after most games,
you know, win or lose
and he had the same speech
every time.
He tried to make you
feel better if you lost.
And he tried to make you
keep going if you won
and not brag on yourself.
Wade and I competed
against each other many times
and then Wade for
me as a head coach,
when I became a head
coach in pro football
with Houston and with Denver,
if I don't have Wade,
I don't have success.
Yeah, Wade,
man, he's-- he's a man I--
everybody and
everywhere he went,
it was number one defense.
The guys wanna play for Wade,
but he got so much criticism
on how he coached.
He's not loud enough.
He is not that guy
that's that rah-rah
guy on the sideline.
But you see every player
that wants to play for Wade
play ba*ls out.
He just know how
they interact with old guys,
young guys, no matter what.
Any--
All the guys on the team,
coach could vibe
with everybody.
So that's one
of Coach Wade's superpowers.
And what he did
is he put guys in positions
to feel comfortable,
you know what I'm saying?
We went to the Super
Bowl off of it.
Under center for the Broncos
was an injured Peyton Manning
who led the league
in interceptions
and finished the season
with a careerlow passer rating.
Wade and the defense
would be responsible
for slowing downthe
league's top offense
and most valuable player,
dual threat phenomenon,
Cam Newton, AKA Superman.
Coach Phillips would always say,
you know, go out there
and play to your best.
And all mistakes are on me.
You know, if I see something,
go after it,
you know,
if I'm thinking something,
you know, go ahead and do it.
It just gave me assurance
knowing that Coach Phillips
had my back no matter what.
You look at Denver
and you say,
this team can go
and win the Super Bowl
on its defense.
It gave me great confidence
that Wade was our D coordinator
and we had a great defense.
Our defense was gonna take
care of business,
we weren't gonna have
to score a ton of points.
announcer] And it's Jacksonand
then Ware
wrapping them up at the five.
He gave those guys
the freedom,
you know, to go play.
They were having
great success.
They were actually
having fun on the field.
It wasn't over complicated,
it just allowed us
to play so fast.
It just felt likewe was
just drawing
it up in the backyard.
You know,
he didn't get too technical.
It looked simple for us,
but for him, it was
way more complex than that.
Here comes
DeMarcus Ware after him
and the Broncos
get to him, again.
You know,
we won the Super Bowl,
you know, with Coach Phillips,
you know, leading the defense.
Definitely one the highlights
of my whole entire life,
let alone my career.
Winning the Super Bowl
and winning Super Bowl MVP
is just on a whole
another level
and wouldn't have been
able to do it
without Coach Phillips.
Coach.
You're unbelievable coach.
I love you.
Love you like a brother.
I know your dad's
so proud of you.
-Oh, hey.
-Oh, man.
I've got
The Super Bowl Itch
The Super Bowl Itch
The best you can do
is win the Super Bowl.
That year we did it,
but this last year, they said,
"What-- What's better
than winning the Super Bowl?"
Well, my son Wes
won the Super Bowl,
so, uh, that's better for me.
It's a different feeling,
you know,
I mean,
you're proud of yourself
to a certain extent
when you win it,
but you're really proud
of your son for doing that.
- Pretty neat, huh?
- Yeah, it's--
-This is-- This thing is huge.
-Yeah, it's nice.
It's, uh, you know,
not quite as--
-quite as big...
-Oh, my God.
...as this one.
And they had
the Rams on there.
-Yeah. Yeah.
-That's pretty big too.
- But pretty special to have...
- Yeah.
- ...two of 'em...
- Yup.
- ...in this room.
- Yup.
I think of my dad too.
He would be proud
of obviously both of us
-with having these rings.
-Yeah, for sure.
If you look at Dador even Bum,
they're very genuine people.
They do follow
the golden rule, you know,
treating people the way
you would want to be treated.
So I think that's just kind of
something I was raised with.
There certainly are a
lot of different ways
to do it in this league.
There's coaches
that treat players
a lot differently than Bum
or my dad treated players,
um, and have had success
doing it that way.
But to see that you
could be successful
and also have fun with the guys,
Bum wouldn't hesitate to say
that he was friends
with the players.
And some peoplemay kind
of look down on that,
but I think ultimately
we spend so much time
with this, you know,I wouldn't
want to do it any other way.
Some of the best
conversations I ever hadwith
that man
was riding around on his gator
on his ranch in Goliad
and never saying a word.
He was-- He was special.
I was sittingon the
back porch with him
and we were watching
the sun go down
and all of a sudden,Daddy goes,
"That's the most exciting thing
that's happened all day."
"And that's good enough for me."
"So, Bum, I mean,
how do-- how do you spend
your day?"
"What do you do?"
He goes,
"Not much of nothing."
"Don't start
till noon either."
I went to see him
one day down there in Goliad
when he was on his ranch
and we were saying
goodbye to all this.
He said, "You know what?"
"We don't have to see
each other every two months
to let you knowhow
I feel about you
and I knowhow you
feel about me."
After every game,
Wade always got a phone
call from his dad Bum,
and it was kindof a
special time for them.
And I remember...
when he couldn't do it anymore.
And I just felt for him so much
because I know he missed
that time with his dad.
It was the night of Port
Neches Nederland game
that he passed away.
And it was 6-6 at halftime.
And I still-- I still
get a little,
you know-- When I think
about that,
you know, first of all
him passing away,
but how amazing is it
that the two teams
he coached and loved
were tied at halftime?
So, yeah.
He split heaven wide
open.
I had the privilege
of doing his funeral,
burying him...
and it was a joy beyond words.
And, uh, I can wait,
but I can't wait to see him...
and I'm pretty sure Love Ya Blue
will be in heaven also.
Bum was always saying
nice things about me,
much nicer than my
coach was ever saying.
I always saw myself
playing for Bum Phillips
because I felt that he would
get the best out of me.
I mean, I knew I would love
him and I'd do anything.
And I knew if I messed up,
he wouldn't scream
and holler at me.
He'd love me through it.
Bum just knew people.
And he in love--
he loved what he was doing.
He loved people.
But I think the biggest
thing he wanted to do
was to meet that young man
and to change his lifestyle,
not only on the field
and off the field,
'cause he said, "You ain't
gonna go and play this game
for so long."
"And hopefullyyou
enjoy doing it."
"But the thingsthat
you have learned here
is going to carry you
when your playing
days are over."
That's 90% of anything
is loving where you are.
Well, I loved football
when I was in it
and I went another
37 years I coached,
I had one week vacation.
That's all.
That's all I ever wanted.
In fact, I was miserable
the whole week.
We went down to the beach...
and all the family and
I couldn't run the boat.
I couldn't-- I couldn't do--
I didn't know how
to bait a hook even.
Gosh, so I quit vacation
and I just--
I'd rather be doing this
or I'd rather be on my
tractor right here working
than, you know, other than
football, that-- this is it.
These are two places
I'd like to be.
Look out football
Here we come
Look out football
Here we come
Look out football
Here we come
Houston Oilers number one
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers number one
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers number one
Houston has the Oilers
The greatest football team
We take the ball
From goal to goal
Like no one's ever seen
We're in the air
We're on the ground
We're always in control
And when you say the Oilers
We're talking Super Bowl
'Cause we're
The Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers number one
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers number one
We've got the offense
We've got the defense
We giveThe other
team no hope
'Cause we're
The Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
You know
We're gonna hold the rope
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers number one
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers number one
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Look out football
Here we come
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers number one
Five, seven, eight
We're the best
From the Lone Star State!
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers number one
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers number one
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers number one
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers
Houston Oilers number one
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Luv Ya Bum! (2025)
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