Coach Bill Yeoman has been around the University of Houston for more than five decades. But now, like many football fans across Houston, he is remembering Phillips, his former colleague and friend.
"He did a good job, you know, as far as coaching football is concerned, for crying out loud," Yeoman told us.
Yeoman, who's been called the winningest coach in U of H's history, told us he remembers Phillips as a well-respected leader among high school coaches before being hired on as the university's defensive coordinator in 1965.
"Bum was well implanted in the golden triangle in the coaching profession, and that's where we did an awful lot of recruiting," said Yeoman. "He helped a bunch. There isn't any question about it."
Yeoman and Phillips only worked together for two years at U of H. But both men had a reputation for integrating football teams in Texas. Yeoman says the young athletes admired Phillips.
"He did a real good job with the players," Yeoman said. "The kids liked him. And what really helped, he was real casual and easy to get along with."
These days, Coach Yeoman's working at U of H as a special assistant to Cougar Pride. And when he got the call this week about his friend's death, Coach Yeoman says it wasn't hard remembering the good old times with Bu Phillips.
"We had an enjoyable experience here. We came out of the wilderness and had some good football teams here for a couple of years, so i enjoyed that," he said.
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