The Dallas Cowboys named Wade Phillips as their new head coach on Thursday to replace Bill Parcells, who retired from coaching last month.

Phillips, a Texas native, spent the last three seasons as defensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers.

"It's great to have these cowboy boots back in Texas because I'm a Cowboy now and I'm proud of it," Phillips told a televised press conference.

The 59-year-old Phillips, whose father Bum coached the Houston Oilers, has been credited with building a stout San Diego defense over the past three seasons-- an area where some commentators say the Cowboys need significant improvement.

Phillips was also head coach of Buffalo from 1998-2000 and the Denver Broncos in 1993-94, and served a brief stint at the helm of the Atlanta Falcons in 2003.

Phillips replaces veteran coach Parcells, who resigned last month after compiling a 34-30 regular season record with the Cowboys over four years in the job.

Parcells, who led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories, was 0-2 with the Cowboys in the playoffs, including a bitterly disappointing Wild Card loss to Seattle in January.

V-dawgg’s Take
First of all, I am terribly disappointed the Cowboys didn’t follow my advice and try to hire Cowher – I still say that choice was a lot better than Phillips. I guess it’s surprising to me that Cowher actually wanted to walk away for a year, as opposed to pulling a 180 degree turn.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, this is what I really think.

When I first heard the news about Phillips being hired as the new coach, I was excited because I don’t like the Cowboys (the 49ers are one of my favorite teams) and I thought that he was a terrible fit for the team. After doing some research I‘ve gone from thinking Phillips will be a total failure to Phillips likely not succeeding. Here are the pros and cons on what could end up happening in Dallas.

Why Phillips Could be a Good Choice

1. He knows the 3-4 defense, which is the defense the Cowboys currently use, but have struggled with. According to ESPN.com, the biggest reason they struggled with the defense was not the personnel, but the strategy of not being aggressive enough.  Phillips, who is known for having an aggressive defense, should fix that problem and make what was supposed to be the strength of last year’s team a reality. Hiring Ron Rivera, in this instance, probably wouldn’t have made sense because they don’t have the personnel to switch to the 4-3 defense/Cover 2 scheme that Rivera favors.
   
   
2. Phillips is from Texas and is familiar with the prestige of being associated with the Cowboys. I think this is a positive because he might be able to handle certain parts of the hoopla involved (with being coach of Cowboys) – the media, fans and Jerry Jones, for starters - better than some of the other candidates. He knows what is involved and could be better prepared to handle it. I equate this situation to how it was with the Yankees when they hired Joe Torre (as much as it pains me to say that).  Torre, a native of Brooklyn, New York, had mediocre records with previous teams he coached, but was able to turn things around quickly. Who knows? The Cowboys might be able to pull off a similar turn around – though I am hoping they don’t.
   
   
3. He was better than any of the other candidates. I know I said that Cowher was the best choice, but let’s just say he wasn’t ever in the mix in the first place. Then the other major candidates were Ron Rivera (Defensive Coordinator for the Bears), Norv Turner (Offensive Coodinator for the 49ers), Jim Caldwell (Assistant Head Coach/Quaterbacks Coach for the Colts) and Mike Singletary (Assistant Head Coach for the 49ers). I’ve already discussed why Rivera didn’t fit. Norv Turner, while considered to be an offensive genius (a term thrown around way too much in the NFL), was a offensive head coach in Oakland and in Washington – besides, I am glad that both Turner and Singletary are staying in San Francisco for another year (Go Niners!). Jim Caldwell was probably only mentioned because the Colts just won the Super Bowl and he coached Peyton Manning, but I have my doubts as to how much he actually did while he was there and I don’t think Singletary had enough of a resume to be a head coach. 

Why Phillips Could be a Bad Choice

1. Phillips’ regular season record is respectable at 48-42, but I really question how much it had to do with his coaching versus personnel that he had on his teams that were successful. In Denver, he only had John Elway, Jason Elam and Shannon Sharpe, which easily explains why they were a .500 team during his tenure. In Buffalo, he had Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, Eric Moulds, Andre Reed and Sam Cowhart (who was playing like a Pro Bowler) and coached them to a 29-19 regular season record. In San Diego, where he was the defensive coordinator, the defense was stacked with Shawne Merriman, Shaun Phillips, and Luis Castillo. Well that and some guy named LaDanian Tomlinson might have also had something to do with the Chargers 14-2 record. 
   
   
2. He has been fired twice. I am sure there was a good reason for that.
   
   
3. Can he deal with the outside factors? This is where the true test will be. The other teams that Phillips coached didn’t have to deal with personalities like Terrell Owens and Jerry Jones. Those two people can make life very difficult for a coach and I’ll be curious to see what happens when Terrell starts complaining about the offense (something that is guaranteed to happen) and Jerry Jones starts to get impatient. I know Jones was quite emotional at the introductory press conference, but he likes to be in control and will not be happy if Phillips doesn’t show much progress. 
   
   
4. He was 0-3 in the playoffs. The Cowboys are similar to the Yankees in the sense that they are only interested in winning championships. They haven’t won a playoff game in the last 10 years – a fact that delights me. Do they really want to place their faith in someone who hasn’t gotten past the first round of the playoffs? If I were a Cowboy fan, I wouldn’t. 

Verdict

Call Bill Parcells back and see if he wants to still coach. No, seriously, I’m going to lean towards the Cowboys still struggling and Jones hiring someone else when a better candidate emerges.  

Vdawgg is a columnist for RGX Sports and will have a sports blog that will start posting in the near future. Information from Reuters News Wire Service was also used in this article. Any comments or emails can be sent to vdawgg_rgx@yahoo.com.