Bum Phillips was back in town with his trademark cowboy hat at Reliant Stadium on Wednesday, Aug. 15.
Former Houston Oilers head coach and Houston football legend Bum Phillips spoke to the media about his new association with the Houston Texans after being introduced by Texans president Jamey Rootes.
Texans president Jamey Rootes (on the Texans Battle Red Smoker) "You're going to see it tonight. The Battle Red Smoker has been signed by all the Texans players. It's been protected and we're going to use it all year long to cook sausage and barbeque out in the Budweiser Plaza. At the end of the year we're going to auction it off for charity to the Houston Texans Foundation."
(on ex-Oilers coach Bum Phillips and Debbie Phillips) "We're also pleased to have Debbie and Bum Phillips here today. Without them, we wouldn't be having this kind of celebration. At the end of last season we decided that we need to really have an absolutely incredible barbeque and sausage experience for our fans. We also wanted to do it in a way that tied back to the history and heritage and all the great tradition of Houston football, and we couldn't think of a better way to do it than with a true football legend here in Houston. You can't go anywhere and talk football without references to "Luv Ya Blue" and Bum Phillips. We are so proud, pleased and thrilled that he has decided to team with us. As you can see we've got our stands: 'Bum's Smokehouse.' You'll see it throughout the stadium. Bum will be on hand at several games throughout the stadium to reach out to the fans. He's such a wonderful man, a great ambassador for the game of football and so important to us. Thank you for being here, Coach, and I'd like to introduce you to Bum Phillips."
Former Houston Oilers head coach Bum Phillips (opening statement) "It's been a while since I have been in front of a microphone, but I guess it's all the same. You always talk from the heart. Believe me, this is a great opportunity. This will add five to ten years to my life, being able to come back and be a part of Houston again and be a part of football again. That's something that I've been with for 84 years, so without it for the last five, six or seven, I've missed it. I've missed the players, the camaraderie of the people, I missed the fans. I enjoyed the fans, I always have enjoyed the fans, and most of the time they enjoyed what I was doing. Maybe a couple of games they didn't, but it's good to be back here because, of all of the people in professional football, Bob McNair is my favorite. He's a guy that's a straight-shooter, he's a guy that gets good people around him and takes care of them. He's a guy that will do anything he needs to do to get a winning program back in Houston and believe me, he's going to do it. I have a great, great amount of respect for Gary Kubiak. He's a great football man. He's been with winners, and if you have been with winners, and you have learned that and learned how to do it, than I think you can reproduce it. Certainly he's been with winners, and he knows how to do it. Believe me, just hold your horses a little bit because he's going to turn things around for you. I can't think of a whole lot else other than being proud to be back here and a part of football again, and being in Houston. I can't think of a whole lot else to tell you. I can answer all the questions you want. What I'd like to talk about though, more than the past is today's questions rather than twenty years ago's questions. Y'all all know all of them and you've got your mind made up about them anyhow, so whatever I said couldn't change your minds. If you would, just keep your questions to something that has something to do with the last four or five or ten years instead of back in my time. My time is over, but my time for having fun isn't over."
(on his allegiance with the Texans while his son, Wade Phillips, coaches the Cowboys) "From having children, you always want to pull for your children, you've got to pull for that. But there's not anything in the world that can take the place in my mind and my heart of Houston. This is my home. You say, 'You don't live here.' I don't live here, but I am here in Houston. I read the paper about Houston, I look at the news about Houston and that's the only town that I care to think about. I really want to know that it's okay. It won't be a problem. Wade coaches, he can coach in Dallas and do a good job, and I think he will. I think he's a good coach and I think that works both ways. They have good personnel and he's a good football coach so that ought to go hand in hand. You have to make the personnel here and there it's already developed. You have to develop it here, and I have no doubt that Gary will."
(on why it was important for Bum Phillips to come back to football in Houston) "I don't know anybody in the world that doesn't like to go back, whether it's go back and see your grandma and grandpa. The seven years that I lived in Houston, out of the 84 I've lived, that's the highlight. Those seven are the highlight in my life. I don't have a day that goes by that I don't hear from somebody from Houston or one of the players or somebody from Houston. I'll remember it. It's such a great time in my life. I'm like everybody else, I revisit those good times. The good times I had were right here."
(on head coach Gary Kubiak getting his start in camp with Bum Phillips) "He was a ball-boy. I could tell then he was a good coach. Don (Fambrough) was trying to recruit him for University of Kansas and he asked me if he I would let him come to camp. I didn't know who he was, I just knew (Fambrough) wanted him, and I liked Don so I said sure. Of course he came to camp two years with us and he went to (Texas) A&M. He and Bud (Moore) both missed him, Bud was trying to recruit him for Kansas, too."
(on his association with the Texans and Texans Owner Bob McNair) "It's going to be real good. I haven't had a chance to be associated with a football team in the last 20 years. I intend to be around enough where I'll know all these kids and I can call them by name and know something about them and then I can tell you more about that. You have to know the people before you can judge them."
