Texans name Wade Phillips interim head coach with Gary Kubiak's timeline uncertain

Wade Phillips has comipled an 82-61 record as an NFL head coach. (Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images) The Houston Texans announced on Wednesday that defensive

Doug Farrar | Nov 6, 2013

Texans name Wade Phillips interim head coach with Gary Kubiak's timeline uncertain /

Wade Phillips has comipled an 82-61 record as an NFL head coach. (Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images)

The Houston Texans announced on Wednesday that defensive coordinator Wade Phillips will serve as the team's interim head coach while head coach Gary Kubiak recovers from the Transient Ischemic Attack, or "mini-stroke," he suffered at halftime of the Texans' 27-24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night. Kubiak was taken from Reliant Stadium to a Houston Methodist Hospital after he collapsed while walking to the locker room at the half. After a battery of tests, Kubiak was diagnosed with a TIA.

“There was a lot of unknown," Phillips said after the game. "Everything was unknown as to what was going on and what happened to 'Kub.' [Offensive Coordinator] Rick Dennison obviously called the plays from the press box. We had to adjust as far as the head coach not being there. But, it was a shock to everybody.”

Phillips, who coached the Texans in the second half of the Colts game, has an 82-61 record as an NFL head coach. He first took that responsibility on an interim basis for the New Orleans Saints in 1985, acting as the head coach over the season's final four games for the Saints after his father Bum Phillips stepped down.

Phillips was the Denver Broncos' head coach in 1993 and '94, the Buffalo Bills' head coach from '98 through 2000 and the Dallas Cowboys' head coach from '07 through '10. The Cowboys let him go after he started off with a 1-7 record in his final season there. The Texans named him as their defensive coordinator in 2011, and he has turned a formerly porous defense into one of the NFL's best on a consistent basis.

Kubiak's timeframe to return to the team is unknown. He was released from the hospital on Tuesday.

“I want to thank my family, the McNair family, the Texans organization, the doctors and staff at Houston Methodist and the entire Houston community for all the love and support we have received over the past three days," he said in a statement. "I’ve been through an ordeal and my focus now is to get back to good health. Doctors have told me I will make a full recovery but we have not determined when I will be cleared to return to the office. Again, thank you for the support and concern.”

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Published Nov 6, 2013

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.