Big Cat Country
What makes Liam Coen the right man for Jacksonville?
For the third time in five years, the Jacksonville Jaguars are searching for a new head coach.
Big Cat Country’s Jaguars head coach hiring process tracker is constantly being updated — but to provide more information on the top candidates being interviewed, we’ll be releasing in-depth profiles throughout the search.
Other head coach candidate profiles:
Next up: Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who Jacksonville has requested an interview with.
Coen played quarterback from 2004-08 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he was a four-year starter and eventually voted into the UMass Athletics Hall of Fame after setting six of the eight available UMass career passing records.
Coen then began his coaching career in Cleveland, landing a role as the Browns’ quarterbacks coach in 2010, a role he later returned to in 2012 and 2013 after one season as the University of Rhode Island passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He then returned to UMass in 2014 as their pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach before landing his first offensive coordinator role at the University of Maine in 2016.
Liam returned to the NFL in 2018 as an assistant wide receivers’ coach for the Sean McVay-coached Rams where he would later transition to assistant quarterbacks coach in 2020. After three years in Los Angeles, Coen would take the concepts learned with the Rams to Kentucky, where he would be named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the 2021 season. Coen helped the Will Levis-led Wildcats achieve a 10-3 record and a 2022 Citrus Bowl victory over Iowa, scoring 32 points per game. In his first season at Kentucky, Levis would throw for 24 touchdowns, placing him on the radar of NFL general managers.
After the Citrus Bowl win, Liam returned as the Rams' offensive coordinator in 2022. Los Angeles was fresh off a Super Bowl LVI victory and former OC Kevin O'Connell was hired as head coach of the Vikings. While McVay would be in charge of play calling, Coen would handle weekly game planning and installation in collaboration with McVay. However, the team would end the season 27th in points scored after losing multiple key members to injury for significant portions of the season. Quarterback Matthew Stafford missed the preseason and played in just nine games before landing on injured reserve with a season-ending neck injury. Top wide receiver Cooper Kupp would also miss eight games and end his season on injured reserve due to an ankle sprain along with losing receiver Van Jefferson for the first six games.
With McVay reportedly contemplating retirement for the second straight offseason, Coen returned to Kentucky to take on his prior role, improving their 2022 19 points per game to 26 points per game. He would then hop back to the NFL, this time calling plays for the Buccaneers, bringing us current on his 15 total years of coaching.
Liam's offense, led by the...
