Tony Phillips joined Lingleville ISD this month as head girls athletic coordinator, stepping out of a 4-year retirement to return to a coaching career where he helped lead basketball teams into the playoffs 36 times.
Phillips comes to LISD with 36 years in education, 35 as a coach/teacher and one as a principal. That career has seen the Poolville native coaching in Peaster, Poolville, Brock, Santo, Perritt, Millsap and Lipan.
He acted as head coach for the first 26 years of his career amassing more than 500 wins (and 17 playoff bids) with his teams. He was head coach in Brock from 1997 to 2001 when the team was consistently ranked in the top 5 in the state and spent some time at No. 1. In 2001, he led the Eagles to the state championship where they finished as runner-up.
Phillips has earned several distinctions including: Eight Time District Coach of the Year, Star Telegram Metroplex Girls Basketball Coach of the Year in 2000, TABC Girls All Star Coach in 2001, TGCA Girls All Star Coach in 2001 and Star Telegram Metroplex Softball Coach of the Year 2001 Phillips takes his position as coach seriously but he also takes his role as a father seriously. He and his wife, Jennifer, have four sons, Tate, Ty, Tripp and Trew.
His sons shared their dad’s love for athletics and he knew he didn’t want to be their head coach so he took another position as assistant coach with teams that went into the playoffs 19 times. He helped take Lipan to two state championships in 2017 and 2018 and was part of the coaching staff that went to the State Semifinals Game in 2021 and was the State Runner-Up in 2022.
When he retired from Lipan (where his wife serves as principal), Phillips knew he would probably return to coaching but he was waiting for his youngest son, Trew, to graduate so he would be there for his sons in their high school careers.
Fate threw him a clipboard sooner than expected when he saw the open position at Lingleville. He had previously worked with LHS boys coach Garrett Stewart at Lipan and called him about the post.
“We talked and it all fit together,” Phillips said.
Trew is a senior this year and only playing baseball so he will have the time to devote in volleyball and basketball seasons and can attend his son’s games since Lingleville doesn’t play baseball or softball.
Serving small schools trained Phillips in leading several sports although he admitted he will have to refresh himself on volleyball.
Fortunately, he’s been working with players and assistant coach Alisenya Guereca for the last several weeks and been impressed with the excitement and collaboration he’s seen. Phillips is looking forward to collaborating with Guereca and building on the success that outgoing coach Brandon Haught has built with his team.
Phillips offered that the school has room to grow in the basketball department but knows its rich history in the sport and said he’s almost more excitement to be the coach building a program than leading one at the top of their game.
“We just need to get them to buy in and it’s going to get better,” said Phillips. With the excitement he’s seen in the last few weeks and recent successes in the program, he’s looking forward to his new role in making it even better.