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Hours after the team returned from East Lansing on September 10, 1995, Phillips broke into backup quarterback Scott Frost's apartment by climbing the outside of the building to the third floor and entering through some sliding doors. He then assaulted his ex-girlfriend, basketball player Kate McEwen. Phillips dragged McEwen out of the apartment by the hair and down three flights of stairs before smashing her head into a mailbox. Phillips was subsequently arrested, and eventually suspended by head coach Tom Osborne.

The case became a source of controversy and media attention, with the perception that Osborne was coddling a star player by not kicking Phillips off the team permanently. Osborne walked out on a press conference when asked, "If one of your players had roughed up a member of your family and had dragged her down a flight of steps, would you have reinstated that player to the team?"

Outraged Nebraska faculty proposed that any student convicted of a violent crime should be prohibited from representing the university on the football field. Osborne defended the decision, saying that abandoning Phillips might do more harm than good, stating the best way to help Phillips was within the structured environment of the football program.

Osborne stated, "I felt the only thing I could put in a place that would keep him on track was football, because that was probably the only consistent organizing factor in his life."