The Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to hire Liam Coen as their next head coach.
It’s been a wild 48 hours for the Jaguars and their head coaching search, which included losing out on Coen on Wednesday and then firing general manager Trent Baalke, only to then restart conversations with Coen about the vacancy.
With that said, however we got here, the Jaguars did get their guy. From early in the week it became clear that Coen was the front-runner for this role
Let’s get to know the next Jaguars’ head coach with three things you need to know:
Coen’s coaching background
The 2024 season was Coen’s first as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator. Before that, he was the Kentucky offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2023, and the LA Rams offensive coordinator in 2022, in non-play calling role with Sean McVay in charge of that.
Going back further, Coen was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Kentucky in 2021 and the Rams assistant quarterbacks coach in 2020, while holding the assistant wide receivers title from 2018-2019.
From 2010-2017, Coen held various coaching roles at the college level. His offensive background is rooted in working with the quarterback position.
The 2024 Bucs’ offense
In Coen’s first season in charge of the offense, the Bucs’ found a ton of success. Overall, they were a playoff team, but they accomplished something that no other team in football did, finishing the regular season ranked top-five in scoring, rushing yards per game and passing yards per game.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield would have a career year, completing 72% of his passes for 4,500 yards at 7.9 yards per attempt with 41 touchdowns to 16 interceptions.
Compared to the rest of the NFL, Mayfield was third in yards, third in completion percentage, sixth in yards per attempt, and second in touchdowns.
Coen’s offense
In an interview with the Bucs’ team site, some elements of Coen’s offense include a heavy usage of motion and shifts, giving the quarterback autonomy to make decisions with multiple play-calls, “different types” of runs, and more 11 personnel, among other things.
“First and foremost, we want to start with running the football and being diverse within our schemes and the way that we attack defensive structures, but it all starts with the guys up front,” said Coen. “It’s a violent game and you have to be able to do it in a physical way. And also being explosive and that’s in both the run and the pass.
“So being able to push the ball down the field while also being able to run the football effectively and also explosively. It’s all about players. That’s all I’ve known. In times of crisis think players not plays.”
What’s next for Coen?
Obviously an important part of the equation, regardless of who the next Jaguars’ head coach was going to be is maximizing Trevor Lawrence.
We saw Coen do that last season with Mayfield, and helping to do that was having a strong running game to lean on, which can help eliminate some of the predictability that the Jaguars’ offense had been navigating.
However, in addition to the Xs and Os, as Lawrence described when last meeting with reporters following the end of the season, the Jaguars need a leader and culture setter at head coach. That will play a pivotal role in getting things back on track.
“I think from a leader standpoint, whether it’s an offensive coach or defensive coach just a guy that’s going to instill that culture,” Lawrence said.” That toughness into our team and just that confidence that it doesn’t matter when we’re playing, who we’re playing, just spot the ball and we can beat anybody. And just a tough team that other teams don’t want to play against.”
