UFL coach Wade Phillips walks back quip about Dean Blandino
It was just a joke!
At halftime of Sunday's game against the St. Louis Battlehawks, Wade Phillips and his San Antonio Brahmas found themselves trailing the St. Louis Battlehawks 17-3.
In an interview with Fox Sports, Phillips (jokingly) took out some of his frustration on UFL head of officiating Dean Blandino.
"You know, Blandino, you're killing us up there, you know that?" Phillips quipped. "Wow."
Phillips and the Brahams went on to lose 26-9. One day after the game, Phillips took to Twitter/X to clarify that his good-natured quip was a joke.
"I was really joking about Dean," Phillips tweeted. "The UFL has been amazingly innovative with the officiating from the booth. It gets things right and I can't think of a better or more knowledgeable person than Dean Blandino to do it."
Phillips, 77, was a defensive coordinator (1989-1992; 2015-2016) and head coach (1993-1994) with the Denver Broncos, helping the team win Super Bowl 50 in 2015. He coached the XFL's Houston Roughnecks in 2023 before switching to the Brahams in the UFL last spring.
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