Twenty-three former Denver Broncos played in the United Football League this spring, and one former Broncos coach patrolled the sidelined.
Wade Phillips — who served as a defensive coordinator in Denver from 1989-1992, as a head coach from 1993-1994 and as DC again from 2015-2016 — is now the head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas in the UFL.
The Brahmas will face the Birmingham Stallions in the UFL championship game on Sunday afternoon. Birmingham is seeking its third-straight title while Phillips is aiming to win a championship for the first time as a head coach.
The 76-year-old Phillips won a Super Bowl as a coordinator with the Broncos, but he’s never won a title as head coach. The veteran coach deflected the spotlight off himself and onto his players earlier this week.
“Obviously it’d be great,” Phillips said, via Jack Marrion of the Houston Chronicle. “But I feel great for the players. They’ve worked really hard for it. They deserve to be where they are now. I think they deserve a championship but they have to play it and win it.
“We beat a team that hadn’t lost a game in two years. Now we just beat a team that hadn’t lost a home game. And I believe we’ve been the underdogs in every game, so we like playing that role.”
Phillips is still a beloved coach in Broncos Country and on social media — he went viral earlier this season — and many fans in Denver will be backing the Brahmas on Sunday. San Antonio (8-3) will aim to upset Birmingham (10-1) at 3:00 p.m. MT on June 16.
[vertical-gallery id=620142]