Sailors hire Manatee High defensive coordinator Phillips as new coach

SARASOTA − Sarasota High looked down the road for its new football coach.

Sailors director of athletics Shane Ahles announced Monday afternoon Josh Phillips is the new football coach.

“Coach Phillips brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from every level of football,” Ahles said. “We’re excited for him to lead our young men both on the football field and on campus.”

A former defensive coordinator at Manatee High, Phillips replaces Brody Wiseman, who coached the Sailors the past three seasons.

"Good coach, Good person," Manatee High football coach Jacquez Green said in a text. "Wish him much success in every game except when we play."

An omen that Phillips and Sarasota High were a good match: Phillips was living in Bradenton and his wife Traci was living in Sarasota. Traci owns a number of Airbnb properties. Before the couple was engaged, Traci purchased a property roughly 50 yards from the Cleland Stadium at Ihrig Field, the Sailors’ football stadium.

“When the job came open, I’ve just got to apply and we’ll see what happens,” Phillips said. “Luckily, I got the job. I’m excited about it.”

Phillips applied for one other football coaching position, this one in California where he made it to the final two candidates.

Then COVID-19 hit and Phillips moved back to his native state of Florida.

“I looked at it as my opportunity to get back to Florida and be closer to my mom,” Phillips said.

After attending Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, Phillips went to Yale University where he played on both sides of the ball (cornerback and running back), ran track and majored in Psychology and minored in Religious Philosophy. A Yale graduate in 2001, he acquired two masters degrees from an MBA from Wagner College (MBA) and Cal State Northridge (MS in Kinesiology Biomechanics).

The 43-year-old Phillips has extensive coaching experience on both sides of the ball and on special teams at many levels: Granada High School (defensive and passing game coordinator), University of California Berkeley (strength and conditioning, defense), Los Angeles Pierce College (defensive coordinator), Wagner College (defensive backs, special teams) and Santa Monica High (defensive backs).

“I’ve coordinated everything and strength and conditioning,” Phillips said. “That’s another reason I feel ready to be a head coach. Some guys get pigeonholed on one side of the ball or the other, but I’ve been lucky.

“Over the last couple of years in my career, I felt like I was ready to be a head coach,” Phillips said. “If the right opportunity popped up at the right time, I would throw my name in the ring and see what happened.”

Locally, he also coached at Bradenton Christian School as former coach Greg Williford’s offensive coordinator before landing at Manatee for a season.

He was hired just around a year ago and served as the Hurricanes boys weightlifting coach, strength and conditioning coordinator along with being defensive coordinator.

“It was a really good experience,” Phillips said of his time at Manatee. “Coach Green is a real easy guy to work for. He put a lot of trust and faith in me. He let me coach.

“They’ve got a really talented squad coming back. It was hard to leave. It was hard to say goodbye to those kids, because I really care about the kids. This opportunity was just something I couldn’t pass up.”

With Sarasota, Phillips plans to meet this week and plan goals with all his players, who he met Monday.

“I told them my job is to help you succeed,” Phillips said.

The Sailors were 5-5 last season, reaching the Class 4 Suburban playoffs. Sarasota defeated Manatee High in the first round before losing to Riverview High in the regional quarterfinals.

He also is in the process of assembling a coaching staff, meeting with the assistants under Wiseman. Then Phillips looks to fill out the hole in the regular season schedule.

“I’m super excited to really commit to the Sarasota community, really entrench myself into the community and pour into it and build this program.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sailors hire Manatee High defensive coordinator Phillips as new coach