Wade Phillips isn't much to look at, but Cowboys owner Jerry Jones didn't hire the Son of Bum to model puffy jackets. He hired him for his football acumen. The bloodlines and several successful stints as a defensive coordinator suggested he was up for it, even if Phillips doesn't exactly exude confidence. I often think owners and general managers fall in love with potential head coaching candidates because of their assistant coaching track record, even though the biggest part of the job usually has more to do with, in Mike Tomlin's words, "leading men," than it does with Xs and Os.
Which goes a long way in explaining why some fans aren't sold on Phillips as the long-term answer in Dallas. And some media types, too. Like, say the Dallas Observer's Richie Whitt, who uses a recent Phillips radio appearance to illustrate the point.
"Fundamental leadership says you inform your employees of their roles and their positions," Whitt writes. "So, Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips, surely you told [Patrick] Crayton about his demotion. Right? ..."
Cue the audio. And for the hearing impaired, here's the text:
"Well, I, uh, I duh ... ya know, I dunno that that didn't happen. So. Um, um, ya know, wu, we're a ... Haha ... I mean, you're, you're saying that and he just now said that. But I think we told him in the ... I'm sure we told him in the meetings. So ..."And that, folks, is the eighth habit of highly effective people.
