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Bum Phillips

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Football Coach

The Resume

    (September 29, 1923-October 18, 2013)
    Born in Orange, Texas
    Birth name is Oail Andrew Phillips
    Assistant coach for Texas A&M University (1958)
    Head coach for the University of Texas El Paso (1962)
    Defensive coach for the University of Houston (1965-66)
    Defensive coach for the San Diego Chargers (1967-70)
    Assistant coach for Oklahoma State University (1973)
    Defensive coach for the Houston Oilers (1974)
    Head coach for the Houston Oilers (1975-80)
    Head coach for the New Orleans Saints (1981-85)
    NFL career record: 86-80-0
    Co-authored the book 'Bum Phillips: Coach, Cowboy, Christian' (2010)

Why he might be annoying:

    Oail? Bum?
    His 'Bum' nickname came from his little sister when they were kids - she tried to say 'brother' and it came out 'bumble.'
    In his only college head coach stint (in 1962), he went 4-5.
    Famous for his sound bites, when Bob Costas asked why he took his wife with him on road games, he stated, 'Because she's too ugly to kiss goodbye.'
    He never wore his trademark cowboy hat in domed stadiums, claiming his mom told him 'if it can't rain on you, you're indoors.'
    Weird, since as the head coach for the Oilers and Saints, his home games were in the Astrodome and Superdome respectively.
    After a 30-24 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, he abruptly quit for good as a head coach before season's end (November 25, 1985).
    Among his odd endorsement deals after football, he was a spokesman for Spectrum Scoreboards and TexasState Optical (TSO).

Why he might not be annoying:

    After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he immediately enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and became one of the elite Marine Raiders during World War II.
    During his tenure at Texas A&M, he was an assistant to college coaching legend Bear Bryant.
    With a 59-38 record as the Oilers head coach (and GM), he became the winningest coach in franchise history.
    In defending his running back Earl Campbell's failure to finish the one mile run in training camp, he stated, 'When it's first and a mile, I won't give it to him.'
    He once said of his quarterback Warren Moon, 'That boy could throw a football through a car wash and not get it wet.'
    He owns his own horse ranch.
    Showing the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, his son Wade became a football coach.
    Of his nickname, he's maintained, 'I don't mind being called Bum, just as long as you don't put a 'you' in front of it.'

Credit: Scar Tactics


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 20 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 11 Votes: 36.36% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 18 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 17 Votes: 58.82% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 9 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 83 Votes: 55.42% Annoying