The Dixon Bulldogs’ new athletic director and boys basketball coach isn’t so new.
Mike Phillips will take over for former AD and boys coach Tony Brandt starting this fall. Brandt recently accepted a position at South Callaway High School in Mokane, where he will serve as the AD and boys hoops coach.
Phillips, 37, is no stranger to the Frisco League. He is a 1991 graduate of Plato High School and coached at Iberia from 2003-06.
“I know the area,” Phillips said. “I’ve actually been waiting for something to open up down here, and I’ve been wanting to work as an AD so it worked out very well.”
After leaving Iberia in 2006 he briefly coached the Tuscumbia Lions in 2007 before moving north to coach the Carrollton Trojans.
As a basketball coach, Phillips plans to try implement some of the up-tempo basketball that the Frisco League is known for. But don’t expect a total run-and-gun system like that of Kent Stombaugh’s Richland Bears or Steve Scholfield’s Iberia Rangers.
“I think we’ll try and play at a little faster temp than Tony did these past few seasons,” Phillips said. “We won’t so the complete run and gun like Richland does right now, but I think we’ll try and run a bit.”
Defensively, he prefers the in-your-face full-court man-to-man, not unlike Missouri coach Mike Anderson’s “40 Minutes of Hell”.
Phillips used a similar style at Carrollton. Before Phillips arrived, the Class 3 Trojans had a combined seven wins in their past three seasons. But using a more up-tempo game, the Trojans eclipsed that mark in 2008, winning nine games. They went 12-14 this past season playing in the six-team Missouri River Valley Eastern Division.
“When I came in there they had only won one game the previous year,” Phillips said. “So we started playing faster, and I think we were one of the first teams to do that in Northwest Missouri. I think it was more exciting for the boys and the parents and the fans. They got behind it.”
He faces something of a challenge in Dixon, a team that has hovered around .500 for two seasons.
“I know Tony pretty well, and I think he’s a good coach, he just maybe didn’t have the talent level those past few years,” Phillips said. “But I think we’ve got a good core coming back this season so I’m excited to take it to the next level.”
The Bulldogs return seven seniors, two juniors and three sophomore’s from the 2009-10 squad that finished 13-13.
Aside from basketball, Phillips’ new duties as athletic director will put him right in the middle of a baseball controversy.
Many Frisco League schools have decided not to field teams in the fall due to the rising costs and lagging economy. Stoutland is in the most difficult situation, as the Stoutland R-II School Board recently voted to cut $40,000 from athletics to help pay other school costs. The Tigers are taking donations to help keep their sports programs alive.
Dixon isn’t in that boat, but right now it looks as if they won’t be playing baseball in the fall.
“I don’t think we’re going to have it,” Phillips said. “Now, I’m not exactly sure since I just started and I haven’t looked over all of the things that Tony had on his plate, but it looks like we won’t.”
Phillips said that cutting fall baseball will probably mean keeping other sports.
“Some schools are cutting sports, but it looks like we won’t be cutting anything else,” he said.
Phillips, who is married with three kids and another on the way, has a lot on his plate, but he’s excited for the opportunity.
“Dixon’s the biggest school in the Frisco League and with some of the class realignment stuff it looks like we’ll be starting in a new district and have some new opponents,” he said. “It’s real exciting for me to be starting work in this kind of setting.”
