Wade Phillips Wade Allen Phillips ( born June 21 , 1947 ) is the defensive coordinator for the Houston Texans and former head coach for the National Football League ' s Dallas Cowboys , Denver Broncos , and Buffalo Bills . He was also an interim head coach for the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons . His career winning percentage as a head coach is . 581 . Personal life . Wade is the son of former NFL coach Bum Phillips . Wade and wife Laurie have two children together . His daughter , dancer / choreographer Tracy Phillips , appeared as Helena in My Chemical Romance ' s music video for the song " Helena " ; his son , Wes Phillips , is an assistant coach with the Cowboys . Playing career . Phillips attended Port Neches - Groves High School in Port Neches , Texas , and went on to the University of Houston , where he was a three - year starter at linebacker from 1966 – 68 . He held the school record for career assisted tackles ( 228 ) until 2011 when the record was broken by Marcus McGraw . Coaching career . Phillips began his coaching career as graduate assistant to Bill Yeoman at the University of Houston in 1969 . From 1970 – 72 he served as defensive coordinator at West Orange - Stark High School in Orange , Texas . He then coached the linebackers at Oklahoma State University from 1973 – 1974 , under his father who was OSU defensive coordinator at that time . In 1975 , Phillips coached the defensive line at the University of Kansas . NFL coaching . Phillips began his professional coaching career in Houston as the linebackers coach in 1976 for the team coached by his father , as well as defensive line coach in 1977 – 1980 . He remained on his father ' s staff as the pair headed for New Orleans . Bum stepped down as head coach of a struggling Saints team in late 1985 , and Wade stepped in as interim head coach . He spent the next three years as the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles and then four more in the same position for the Denver Broncos . Phillips replaced Dan Reeves as head coach for the Broncos in 1993 , but was fired after a mediocre 1994 season in which management felt he lost control of the team . The most successful coaching stop for Phillips was at Buffalo . He always kept the team competitive and in the playoff hunt . A loss to the Titans in the 1999 playoffs haunted Phillips for the rest of his time at Buffalo . Prior to the game , Wade caused a controversy when he inserted Rob Johnson as starting quarterback , after Doug Flutie was the starter the whole year and led the team to the playoffs . He has the distinction of having been replaced by a father and a son from two head coaching positions – by Jim Mora at the New Orleans Saints and by Jim Mora Jr . at the Atlanta Falcons . He also has twice replaced Dan Reeves as a head coach . On February 8 , 2007 , he was named the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys , replacing the retired Bill Parcells . He was chosen after Jerry Jones interviewed 10 potential replacements , including former Cowboys and former San Francisco 49ers Offensive Coordinator Norv Turner , former Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera and former Cowboys quarterback Jason Garrett . In the 2007 NFL Playoffs , he led the Cowboys to another playoff loss , making his playoff record 0 – 5 . The Cowboys failed to make the playoffs in 2008 , as the season ended with a 44 – 6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles , preventing a wild card playoff berth . Prior to the 2009 season , Phillips also took over as defensive coordinator , replacing the fired Brian Stewart . Phillips called defensive plays for the final 10 games of the 2008 season after Stewart was stripped of the responsibilities . On January 9 , 2010 , Phillips ' s Cowboys defeated the Eagles in the wild card round , ending the club ' s 12 year playoff win drought ( 6 games total , Phillips was only coach for one of those losses ) and earning Phillips his first playoff win . Following the 2009 season , Phillips signed a contract extension through the 2011 season . However , he was fired by the Cowboys on November 8 , 2010 following the second worst start in franchise history ( one win in their first eight games ) punctuated by a 45 – 7 loss to the Green Bay Packers . On January 5 , 2011 , Phillips was hired as the defensive coordinator of the Houston Texans replacing Frank Bush , who was terminated by Texans owner Bob McNair . Through 11 games of the 2011 NFL Season , Phillips has coached the Texans defense to 1st overall in the league after being in 30th at the end of the last season .