New Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen speaks: We've got to build around Trevor Lawrence

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New Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen speaks: We've got to build around Trevor Lawrence

Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union · The Florida Times-Union

Mon, Jan 27, 2025 ·

4 min read

What kind of Jaguars team does Liam Coen envision?

"It takes complimentary football at all three phases to be great, offense, defense and special teams. How do we want to play the game? And that's fast, fundamentally sound, attacking, situational and tough, both mentally and physically. You see players in the room right here [Coen pointed to several Jaguar players present], guys that I've had conversations with already, it will always be about you. Always it is players over plays. How do we make this as much about the players and making this about bringing out the best in you? That's what this is about."

New Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen (right) reacts to an exchange between Jaguars owner Shad Khan and a reporter during a news conference on Jan. 27 at the Miller Electric Center.

Did Liam Coen take the job because former GM Trent Baalke was fired?

"As you continue to do more research and gain more information as you go, it started to become more clear with every hour that this was an opportunity that you just can't pass up for so many different reasons. And you ultimately want to do truly what's best for you and your family. And that's what this came down to. This was completely about an opportunity to work for an owner and a group of people, with a group of players that needed some help, and that's what coaching is, right? That's what coaching is all about, is trying to go help people and be around people. So no, that was not, that [Baalke's firing] was not the factor."

On working with Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence

"I watched him play as a freshman in high school ... I was seeing this freshman in high school play the position at a high level, standing tall, making throws, delivering. Man, this guy's different. And then you fast forward to now, right? How do we make Trevor Lawrence and this offense as dynamic and explosive as we can be? We've got to build it around him as well, right? We've got to make every part of this about improvement, and he will be a part of that process. He's earned that right. I cannot respect his toughness and mentality and work ethic more than I do already from afar. And this will all, this will all be about a Trevor right now."

Liam Coen's take on the state of the Jaguars

"This isn't a four-win team. Yes, that is the that is the record, but this is not a four-win team. Okay, how do we go from winning games to not losing them? I think that that's something we've got to address, and that is got to be in our veins, in our in our DNA, the culture of winning. I've learned it from the Los Angeles Rams and from a ton of other great organizations on how to go win football games. And so I think that that's something that it has we have to start as a team, as a group, and show how we're going to go do it."

Liam Coen on team culture

"What is the culture that we want to establish, the direction in which we're going to go and how we're going to get there. That's first and foremost. After we start to establish the standard and how we want to do things, then we'll get into the fundamentals and techniques in which we want to participate and play the game and then you start to get into the scheme while continuing to educate and address the culture ... the standards. And that's where it's going to all start, is when these guys get in the building."