Phil Snow

Phillip Snow (born December 22, 1955) is an American football coach, currently the defensive coordinator at Baylor University in the Big 12 Conference.

Early years

Born and raised in northern California, Snow attended Sacramento City College (1974–75) and Cal State Hayward (1977–78), where he received a bachelor's degree in physical education. He began his coaching career at the high school level at Berkeley High in 1976 and Winters High (1977–78). Snow spent three years at Laney College in Oakland, as the secondary coach (1979), and co-defensive coordinator (1980, 1981).

Boise State

Starting in 1982, Snow served on the staff at Boise State for five years under head coaches Jim Criner and Lyle Setencich; he was the defensive coordinator for the Broncos in his last four seasons, all under Setencich. His 1986 squad was ranked sixth in the nation (Division I-AA) in total defense, allowing just 269.4 yards per game and recorded two shutouts. It also yielded just 80.3 yards on the ground to rank fourth in the nation in that category. In his final three seasons at Boise State, Snow was assistant head coach in addition to his duties as defensive coordinator.

California

At California under head coach Bruce Snyder, Snow tutored the secondary for five seasons (1987–1991) in Berkeley, improving the unit each year. His philosophy of man-to-man coverage was a key ingredient in the Golden Bear defensive success. The 1990 and 1991 teams won consecutive bowl games (Copper, Citrus) for the first time in school history. The 1991 team moved up as high as sixth in the national rankings and played in the school’s first New Year's Day bowl game in 33 years; they ended at 10–2 and eighth in the nation, and Snyder (and Snow) went to Arizona State in 1992.

Arizona State

Sun Devil defensive standouts Craig Newsome, Lenny McGill, Kevin Miniefield, and Jason Simmons played under Snow and all went on to the NFL.

The 1996 team went undefeated in the regular season and finished first in the conference in rush defense (98.0), pass defense (104.2), and total defense (306.2). It held Nebraska scoreless and limited the opposition to under 10 points in five games total that season. Led by quarterback Jake Plummer, the Sun Devils narrowly lost the Rose Bowl to Ohio State and finished 11–1, fourth in both polls.

In 1999, Snow's defense finished third in the Pac-10 in scoring defense and featured NFL draft picks Erik Flowers and Junior Ioane on a team which played in the Aloha Bowl. His 1997 group ranked third in the Pac-10, but was first in scoring defense (18.5 ppg). The unit was led by Morris Trophy winner Jeremy Staat and Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year Pat Tillman. ASU won the Sun Bowl and finished at 14th in both polls.

Snow spent fourteen seasons on Snyder's staff at California and Arizona State. While at ASU, Snow's defenses posted five shutouts and held opponents to 10 points or less in 22 games. His defensive units ranked among the top three in scoring defense in the Pac-10 in three of his last five seasons at ASU. In 2000, the Sun Devils ranked first in the nation in fumbles recovered and third in the country in number of turnovers created. The group was headlined by Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year Adam Archuleta and Freshman of the Year Terrell Suggs.

UCLA

Snyder was replaced by Dirk Koetter after the 2000 season, and Snow became the defensive coordinator at UCLA in January 2001 under sixth-year head coach Bob Toledo. The Bruin defense ranked first in the Pac-10 in total defense in 2001, and also finished the season ranked second in the league in rushing defense and scoring defense. Linebacker Robert Thomas, a first round selection by the Rams in the 2002 NFL Draft, earned Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year honors, and Kenyon Coleman was the defensive winner of the Morris Trophy as the Pac-10's best lineman.^[1]

Washington

Snow spent two seasons (2003, 2004) with the University of Washington in Seattle under head coach Keith Gilbertson.

Detroit Lions

In the National Football League, Snow coached the Detroit Lions' linebacker corps for three seasons (2006–2008), after working as a defensive assistant on the staff in 2005.

Eastern Michigan

Snow was the defensive coordinator at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti for three seasons under his former University of California player Ron English. (2010–2012).^[2]

Temple

Snow became the defensive coordinator at Temple in 2013 under head coach Matt Rhule, who had served as an assistant underneath Snow at UCLA.^[3] After allowing 29.8 points per game in Snow's inaugural season, Temple's defense limited opponents to just 17.5 points per game in 2014, which was the fourth best mark in Division I.^[4] For his efforts, Snow was nominated for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's best coordinator.^[5]

In 2015, Snow's defense was once again one of the best in the nation. Temple limited opponents to just 20.1 points per game, the 17th-best mark in Division I, en route to a 10–4 season that saw the Owls defeat Penn State for the first time in 74 years and become nationally ranked for the first time since 1979.^[6] The Owls also ranked 20th in Total Defense.^[7] Following the regular season, Snow was once again nominated for the Broyles Award.^[8]

Baylor

In January 2017,^[9] Snow was named defensive coordinator of the Baylor Bears, succeeding longtime DC Phil Bennett.

Personal life

Snow is the uncle of 2007 AL Rookie and 2008 AL MVP, Dustin Pedroia and father of Philip Snow, a graduate and former member of the University of Nevada-Reno golf team.

Footnotes

External links

• Temple profile