HONOLULU – Dan Phillips, a 26-year coaching veteran, joins University of Hawai'i head football coach Todd Graham's inaugural staff as special teams coordinator and defensive assistant.
 
Phillips comes to Mānoa as spending the past two seasons at McKinney North High School in McKinney, Texas where he was the special teams coordinator and defensive line coach.
 
Prior to that, Phillips spent five years on Graham's staff at Arizona State as a senior analyst, where he worked with the special teams coordinator and assisted the defensive staff. Phillips' association with Graham dates back to Allen High School in Texas and continued at West Virginia, Tulsa, and Rice.
 
"Coach Danny Phillips is a seasoned veteran, coaching and directing special teams," Graham said. "He has a wealth of knowledge and experience and understanding of the championship culture we want to instill in our football program. We proudly welcome Coach Phillips to our Hawai'i football family."
 
During his time at ASU, Phillips helped the Sun Devils to back-to-back 10-win seasons and four bowl appearances. Before joining ASU, he was head coach and athletics director at Central High School in Tulsa, Okla., where he compiled a 16-15 record over three seasons (2010-12). In 2011, he led his team to an 8-3 record and to the Class 5A playoffs.
 
Phillips and Graham first coached together at Allen High, where Graham was head coach and Phillips coached the linebackers and special teams from 1997-2001. Prior to Allen, Phillips was also an assistant at Edmond Memorial High School (Okla.) and Santa Fe High School (Okla.).
 
Phillips got his first taste of collegiate football as a graduate assistant at West Virginia in 2002, where he assisted with the linebackers and coordinated the offensive and special teams scout teams while working directly with Graham, who was co-defensive coordinator.
 
From there, he followed Graham to Tulsa – where Graham was named defensive coordinator – and coached the defensive line from 2003-05. When Graham was named head coach at Rice in 2006, Phillips joined him and coached the defensive line and special teams. 
 
Phillips returned to high school football in 2008 and spent two seasons at Oklahoma's Broken Arrow High before taking over Central's football program.
 
Phillips is a graduate of Central Oklahoma where he earned degrees in health and physical education and a minor in general science and biology. He played linebacker at Southeastern Oklahoma after prepping Oklahoma's Marlow High School.
 
The Phillips File
Hometown: Marlow, Okla.
Alma Mater: Central Oklahoma (1993)
 
Coaching Experience
1993: Edmond Memorial High School (Okla.), Linebackers
1994-96: Santa Fe High School (Okla.), Defensive Coordinator/Special Teams Assistant
1997-2001: Allen High School (Texas), Special Teams Coordinator/Linebackers 
2002: West Virginia, Graduate Assistant
2003-05: Tulsa, Defensive Line
2006: Rice, Special Teams Coordinator/Defensive Line
2008-09: Broken Arrow High School (Okla.), Linebackers/Special Teams Coordinator
2010-12: Central High School (Okla.), Head Coach/Athletics Director
2013-17: Arizona State, Senior Analyst/Special Teams & Defense
2018-19: McKinney North High School, Special Teams Coordinator/Defensive Line