For players, the UFL offers a chance to leap to the NFL or simply remain in the sport as long as they can. What’s the attraction for well-known coaches?
“I love the game of football,” said Birmingham Stallions Coach Skip Holtz, a former coach at Division I programs East Carolina, South Florida and Louisiana Tech. “I love the life lessons that it teaches. It’s hard. It’s demanding. It’s physically hard. It’s mentally hard. But the lesson that it teaches you: Life is hard.”
Phillips, the coach of the San Antonio Brahmas, has been in the profession since 1969 and worked for 10 NFL teams, with six stints as either a full-time or interim head coach. He had been out of the game since 2019, so when the XFL gave him the chance to lead his hometown Houston Roughnecks last year, he was drawn back to a career that doubles as a calling.
“This is what I do. It’s what I love to do,” Phillips said. “They gave me the opportunity to do it. I didn’t have that opportunity in the NFL, and I still wanted to coach. I appreciate them giving me the opportunity.”
At 76, doing what he enjoys most keeps Phillips active. Appeasing loved ones doesn’t hurt either.
“Yeah, my wife wants me out of the house,” Phillips said. “We’ve done it so long, it’s worked out pretty good, 55 years. And I’ve been coaching most of the time. It’s what I love doing, and she knows that. She’s happy for me doing it. Like I say, I’m blessed to have a job at my age.”
That feeling explains why joining a league that might seem like a step down to the outside world feels different to those on the inside.
