By RANGERS ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
Four Ranger legends were inducted into the Northwestern Hall of Fame on Saturday Feb. 6, including legendary Ranger Baseball Coach Joe Phillips.
Joe Phillips was a pivotal point of the Northwestern baseball team in the 1980s throughout the 2000s, not only as a player but as a coach, holding several Northwestern records.
Phillips started his baseball career at Northwestern in 1982 as a first baseman. During his junior year he had an outstanding batting average of .335 highlighted by four homeruns in a row during a double-header. The following year he improved his battering average by hitting .340.
In 1982 Phillips was awarded 1st Team All-Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference as a first baseman.
Phillips earned his bachelor’s degree at Northwestern in education in 1984 and his master’s degree in secondary education in 1989.
After his baseball playing days were over, Phillips began his coaching career at Northwestern as a baseball assistant in 1983 where he held the position for five seasons. In 1988, Phillips took over the helm as the head coach.
Phillips had an outstanding career as the head coach of the Rangers as he holds the “Most Wins in a Career” record for any coach at Northwestern with 452, as well as “Most Wins in a Year” with an astonishing 49.
The Northwestern alum also has five of the top 10 seasons as a Ranger Head Coach, with his best coaching year coming in 2001 when the Northwestern baseball team went 49-12. Not only did Phillips’ 2001 squad have the best record, it also held the highest team batting average of any other Ranger team in history, following hitting .393 as a team. The 49-12 team also was great defensively starting with the pitchers who held a collective 3.82 ERA while striking out 424 batters over the course of the season.
One of his personal career highlights was beating Dallas Baptist in the regional in 2001 in an exciting 12-inning game where it ended in walk-off fashion, when Josh Simpson sent one over the fence for the 7-6 win.
Following his historic run as the Head Coach of the Rangers, Phillips also served as a Northwestern Upward Bound adviser from 2008-2014 and as the assistant athletic director for a time.
Joe and his wife Tanya, who is also a Northwestern grad, reside in Alva, Okla. They have three children: Jake, Pete and Taryn, all graduates of Northwestern.