Bum Phillips Oail Andrew " Bum " Phillips ( born September 29 , 1923 ) is a retired American football coach and the father of Wade Phillips , the Defensive Coordinator for the Houston Texans . " Bum " Phillips coached at the high school , college and professional levels . Early football career . Phillips played football at Lamar College ( now Lamar University ) in Beaumont , Texas , but enlisted in the United States Marine Corps shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor . He became one of the elite Marine Raiders . After he returned from the war , Phillips completed the remaining year on his degree at Lamar , and enrolled at Stephen F . Austin State University in Nacogdoches , Texas , lettering in football in 1948 and 1949 and graduating with a degree in Education in 1949 . During the 1950s and 1960s , Phillips coached high school football in various Texas cities including Jacksonville , Amarillo , Port Neches – Groves , and in his hometown of Nederland . His college coaching stints included serving as an assistant coach at Texas A & M University ( for Bear Bryant ) , the University of Houston ( for Bill Yeoman ) , Southern Methodist University ( for Hayden Fry ) , and Oklahoma State University . He was the head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso for one season in 1962 . NFL coaching career . In the late 1960s , Phillips was hired by Sid Gillman to serve as a defensive assistant coach for the San Diego Chargers . In 1973 Gillman became head coach of the Houston Oilers , and he brought Phillips with him as his defensive coordinator . In 1975 , Phillips was named head coach and general manager of the Oilers , and served in that capacity through 1980 . As coach of the Oilers , he became the winningest coach in franchise history ( 59 - 38 record ) . He was known for his trademark cowboy hat on the sidelines , except when the Oilers played in the Astrodome or other domed stadiums . ( He stated that his mother taught him not to wear a hat indoors ; his former boss Bear Bryant similarly refused to wear his trademark fedora during indoor games . ) Under Phillips the Oilers reached the AFC Championship Game in two consecutive seasons , losing to the Super Bowl - champion Steelers 34 - 5 in 1978 and 27 - 13 in 1979 . Both teams were members of the competitive AFC Central Division , and thus played three times in both 1978 and 1979 , fueling an intense rivalry . During this period of league - wide AFC dominance , some commentators considered Houston and Pittsburgh to be the two best teams in the NFL . Phillips remarked at the time , " The road to the Super Bowl goes through Pittsburgh . " From 1981 through the first 12 games of the 1985 season , he was the head coach of the New Orleans Saints , and like in his coaching tenure with the Oilers , Phillips took off his trademark Stetson inside the Louisiana Superdome . In 1983 his Saints almost had the first winning season and playoff berth in franchise history . The Rams beat the Saints for the final playoff spot in week 16 , 26 - 24 on Mike Lansford ' s 42 - yard field goal with 00 : 02 to play . Phillips resigned as Saints coach on November 25 , 1985 , one day after a 30 - 24 victory over the Minnesota Vikings . Later life and family . He later worked as a football color analyst for television and radio . Phillips has since retired to his horse ranch in Goliad , Texas . Bum has endorsed his own brand of sausage and also has served as the spokesman for Spectrum Scoreboards . Bum was also a spokesman for Texas State Optical ( TSO ) , a regional chain of prescription eyewear retailers , during part of the ' 90s . His son , Wade Phillips , has also held assistant and head coaching jobs in the NFL and was the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys from February 2007 to November 2010 . He was hired by the Houston Texans on January 5 , 2011 as their new defensive coordinator almost 30 years after his father was terminated by Bud Adams on December 28 , 1980 , after the Oilers failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs . In 2010 , he published his memoirs , " Bum Phillips : Coach , Cowboy , Christian . "