[Underdog]

Maxed Out
Phillips Finalizes Coaching Staff With Maxie Hiring



IRVING, Texas - Six weeks after Tony Sparano took three Cowboys assistants with him to Miami, Wade Phillips' renovated coaching staff is officially complete.

As expected, Phillips has made his fifth and final staff addition by hiring Brett Maxie to assist Dave Campo in the secondary.

Maxie moved into his office and started work this week. His specific secondary responsibilities have yet to be finalized, but there's a chance he and Campo could split coaching duties between safeties and cornerbacks.

The Dallas native has 10 years of NFL coaching experience, most recently as the Dolphins' safeties coach in 2007, and also has coached defensive backs in Atlanta (2004-06), San Francisco (1999-03) and Carolina (1998).

Maxie began coaching immediately following his 13-year playing career that included stops in New Orleans, Atlanta, Carolina and San Francisco. He actually played under Phillips as a rookie free-agent safety in 1985 when Phillips was running New Orleans' defense.

Maxie interviewed at Valley Ranch in early February, but his hiring didn't become official until Tuesday. Phillips now has 15 coaches on staff, including five new additions: Maxie, Campo, offensive line coach Hudson Houck, defensive line coach Todd Grantham and linebackers coach Reggie Herring.

Campo and Houck already had long-standing ties to the organization. Campo, a former Cowboys defensive assistant and eventual head coach from 2000-02, returned to Dallas last month following stints in Cleveland and Jacksonville. Like Maxie, Houck worked on the Dolphins' staff last season but also spent nine years as the Cowboys' offensive line coach (1993-01).

Houck replaces Sparano, who became Miami's first head coach in the Bill Parcells era and subsequently brought former Cowboys secondary coach Todd Bowles, linebackers coach Paul Pasqualoni and defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers with him to South Florida.

Grantham and Herring, who replace Rodgers and Pasqualoni, each worked with Cowboys defensive coordinator Brian Stewart in Houston. Grantham has previous defensive coordinator experience in Cleveland, and Herring returns to the NFL after two successful stints as defensive coordinator at N.C. State and Arkansas. He left Arkansas in January to take the same position on Mike Sherman's new staff at Texas A&M, but left for the Cowboys a month later.


Here is Phillips' finalized coaching staff:

Wade Phillips - Head coach
Jason Garrett - Assistant head coach/Offensive coordinator
Brian Stewart - Defensive coordinator
Todd Grantham - Defensive line
Reggie Herring - Linebackers
Dave Campo - Secondary
Brett Maxie - Secondary assistant (official duties yet to be finalized)
Dat Nguyen - Assistant linebackers/Defensive quality control
Hudson Houck - Offensive line
Wade Wilson - Quarterbacks
Skip Peete - Running backs
Ray Sherman - Wide receivers
John Garrett - Tight ends
Wes Phillips - Offensive assistant/Quality Control
Joe Juraszek - Strength and conditioning
Bruce Read - Special teams