Fire Wade Phillips

from espn.com Mel Kiper Q & A

Mike: San Jose, CA: Should the Cowboys have fired Wade Phillips?

SportsNation Mel Kiper: Jerry Jones said the Wade Phillips was coming back. But with Mike Shanahan’s availability, things look different. Shanahan might change the thought process of Jerry Jones.
Shanahan took the hit for the Broncos not making the playoffs. He wanted total control and he got it, with that winning and losing rides on his shoulders. I would give Shanahan an A for coaching and a D for handling personal.
I don’t think coaches can win by coaching and playing GM at the same time.

Can Coach Cupcake get Tough? This blogger wonders. I think Wade Phillips can’t suddenly change his way of coaching, boot him, fire him, move on.

I found a blogger who thinks he has not seen a compelling argument that a new coach would have more success. Well not many coaches can do much worst with a dozen Pro Bowlers. It’s time for a change, Dallas deserves a winner. Fire Wade Phillips now.

Jerry Jones’ loyalty to Wade Phillips is a mistake. Even after watching his team implode, Jones stood in a demoralized locker room Sunday and insisted that Phillips would remain the Cowboys’ head coach. That is bad news for Cowboys fans. The Cowboys folded under pressure, ending the season with losses against the Ravens and Eagles to miss the playoffs. Jones needs to ask himself if the Cowboys are really better off if Phillips stays.

There is nothing to indicate that Dallas will be more successful under Phillips next season. He has never won a playoff game, and the Cowboys regressed this season with a talent-laden roster. Imagine Phillips trying to control Dallas’ locker room now.

Maybe Jones is reluctant to fire Phillips because offensive coordinator Jason Garrett does not look ready to become head coach. Garrett never figured out how to get wide receiver Roy Williams more involved, and Garrett was severely outcoached by Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. If this had been a chess match between Johnson and Garrett, Johnson would have said, “Checkmate” in the second quarter. Jones has to take some of the blame for assembling an overpaid and overrated roster and coaching staff. But Jones is being stubborn, not smart, when it comes to keeping Phillips. If Phillips really keeps his job, he should change his name from Wade to Lucky.

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys aren’t changing coaches. Instead, coach Wade Phillips plans to change.

After seeing Super Bowl hopes fizzle into a 9-7 season that wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs, team owner Jerry Jones has vowed to bring back Phillips, and Phillips vowed Monday to do things differently.

“We know things must improve. The only way is to change things,” Phillips said. “To get to the standard we want, I don’t see another way.”

Phillips said he and Jones already “talked man to man” about what went wrong and what needs to be done about it. All he’s decided so far is that he needs a plan; he’s only started putting it together. However, he said both coordinators will be back and he expects all the star players to return.

Considering his laid-back demeanor and reputation as a players’ coach, Phillips seems to be saying he plans to get tough. However, he’ll be 62 when training camp starts and going into his 33rd season in the NFL, so it remains to be seen whether someone so established can become a different kind of leader.

“My personality is not going to change so much as what you ask players to do,” he said.

Here’s a change: Phillips did not address the team Monday, sending them into the offseason wondering what’s going to happen next. They met with position coaches, cleaned out their lockers, tied up other loose ends and were free to go — much to the chagrin of linebacker Bradie James, a defensive team captain.

“I don’t want to just end this thing and be in the dark,” James said.

Told what Phillips said, James smiled and added, “If you know a person to be a certain way and then all of a sudden you have an extreme change, I don’t know how well that’s going to be taken. I don’t know what he means by that. Like I said, he didn’t address us, so I don’t know. … Whatever needs to be done, I’m all for it.”

Here’s something that hasn’t changed: soap opera side stories.

James spoke to reporters only to clear up information about an incident he’d just gotten into with a fan who was standing outside the driveway into team headquarters wearing a sandwich board that read “Our team has no heart” on the front, and “Wade is an embarrassment to the star.”

James tore the sign off the man, breaking his sunglasses. James then went to his locker, got a pair of expensive shades he’d been given and returned with an apology, a handshake and a gift. Police came and left without taking any action.

“He was like, `Why you guys didn’t have that fire last night!’ You should’ve showed that much heart last night!’ So the next thing you know I’m just ripping that sign off of him,” James said. “So I went and gift-wrapped some Oakleys, and he got something out of the deal. I told him, `I share your frustrations. But where we differ is I wouldn’t go to anybody’s job, especially not up here with 300-pound guys, trying to tell them what they didn’t do right.’”

FIRE WADE PHILLPS. If you are a masochist, watch the lowlights from yesterday

agree?

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has given an emphatic, if not somewhat frustrated, endorsement to head coach Wade Phillips. Jones says Phillips will return next season and Jason Garrett will remain in charge of the offense whether the team makes the playoffs or not.