LOGAN, Utah-Sunday, new Utah State head football coach Gary Andersen added a pair of assistants in passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach Jason Phillips and defensive coordinator Justin Ena.
Phillips brings 20 years of coaching experience to the Aggies, including five seasons as an offensive coordinator.
Phillips, a former star receiver for former Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware’s Houston Cougars, was a consensus All-America receiver in 1988. He then starred for the NFL’s Detroit Lions (1989-1990) and Atlanta Falcons (1991-1994).
His professional career continued with the Canadian Football League’s Birmingham Barracudas (1995) and Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1996-1997).
Phillips began his coaching career as a training camp intern with the Minnesota Vikings in 2001, working under the direction of head coach Dennis Green and offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis.
Since then, he has most prominently served as the co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach, as well as recruiting coordinator at Southern Methodist University from 2012-14.’
He was most recently the wide receivers coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football before Andersen hired him away in his current capacity.
Ena most recently coached the linebackers and served as co-special teams coordinator at the University of Utah from 2016-2018.
Ena starred as a linebacker at BYU from 1998-2001 and was a three-time Mountain West all-conference linebacker for the Cougars.
He played for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles (2002-2004) and Tennessee Titans (2005).
His coaching career commenced as the special teams coordinator at Southern Utah (2008-2009) and he later served as the Thunderbirds’ defensive coordinator/linebackers coach (2010-13).
He served in the same capacity at Weber State in 2014 and then joined Utah’s coaching staff as the linebackers coach in 2015.