For the second year in a row, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could very well lose their offensive coordinator to another NFL team that needs a head coach.
Yahoo! Sports’ Charles Robinson tabbed Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Liam Coen as the likely next head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars recently, with the Carolina Panthers hiring Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Dave Canales as their head coach following the 2023 season.
From Robinson’s official X account: “Handicapping it today, I’d slot it: Dallas #Cowboys: Kellen Moore New Orleans #Saints Mike McCarthy New York #Jets: Aaron Glenn Las Vegas #Raiders: Ben Johnson Jacksonville #Jaguars: Liam Coen.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter followed up with confirmation on January 14 that Coen had completed his official interview with the Jaguars.
The Buccaneers’ season — Coen’s first as offensive coordinator — ended on January 12 with a heartbreaking, 23-20 loss to the Washington Commanders in the NFC Wild Card Round.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on January 7 the Jaguars had formally requested an interview with Coen, and the Jaguars confirmed that on their official X account as well.
Coen, who is 39 years old, was 1 of 8 candidates the Jaguars requested interviews with after Doug Pederson was fired after 3 seasons and a 4-13 record in 2024.
Pederson, who won a Super Bowl as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles following the 2017 season, was 22-29 in his time in Jacksonville and led the Jaguars to an AFC South Division title in his first season.
How Coen Became NFL Head Coaching Candidate
Coen was a star prep quarterback playing for his father, Tim, at La Salle Academy in Providence, Rhode Island, before a record-setting career at UMass, where he was a 4-year starter from 2004 to 2008.
Coen spent most of the next decade as an assistant coach at colleges on the East Coast, including 2 seasons as the offensive coordinator at the University of Maine before he was hired as the wide receivers coach by the Los Angeles Rams in 2018.
That kicked off a 6-year stretch in which Coen went back and forth between the Rams and the University of Kentucky, with 2 stints as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator, including spending 2022 as the Rams’ offensive coordinator before going back to Kentucky in 2023.
In his 1 season with the Buccaneers, he’s made a big impression by not only revamping a running game that went from being the worst in the NFL to 1 of the best and overseeing a career year for quarterback Baker Mayfield, who had career highs in passing yards (4,500), passing touchdowns (41), rushing yards (378), rushing touchdowns (3) and yards per carry (6.3).
As a team, Tampa Bay went 10-7, made the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season and won a fourth consecutive NFC South Division title.
Jags’ QB Headed Into Career-Defining Season
If Coen does take over as head coach of the Jaguars, it will no doubt be mostly to see if he can work the same magic on 2021 NFL draft No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence as he did on Mayfield in 2024.
Lawrence became the NFL’s highest-paid player of all time when he signed a 5-year, $275 million contract in June 2024 and responded with the worst season of his professional career in every statistical category. He also missed a career-high 7 games and went 2-8 in the 10 games he did start. Lawrence ended the season by going on injured reserve and undergoing shoulder surgery.
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