Jacksonville Jaguars' Liam Coen will bring an edge, should elevate Trevor Lawrence career

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Jacksonville Jaguars' Liam Coen will bring an edge, should elevate Trevor Lawrence career

Gene Frenette, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union · The Florida Times-Union

Tue, Jan 28, 2025 ·

9 min read

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It was never much of a question Liam Coen, being the creative, energized play-caller that he is, would score a lot of points in his first Jacksonville Jaguars press conference.

The 39-year-old offensive wizard from the Sean McVay coaching tree was a football Pavarotti — the late Italian tenor — for his speaking portion during a 35-minute session Monday in the Jaguars' team meeting room.

Coen hit all the right notes, albeit his "Duuu-val" chant still needs a lot of work .

Whether it was the way he paid homage to all his past coaching mentors, calling his father, Tim Coen, a former Rhode Island high school football coach, "my hero," openly expressing love for wife Ashley, sons Jackson and Callahan, or talked in forceful detail about his vision to reshape the Jaguars' franchise, Liam came prepared and struck the important chords.

None greater than the Jaguars' eighth head coach ending his litany of thanks with this heartfelt tribute: "Finally, to my angel in heaven, my mom, Elizabeth, I wish you could see it. I wish you could see it because this is pretty cool."

Sure, it may be another eight months before the Jaguars and their beleaguered fan base get a real clue about how Coen's team will perform in meaningful games , but he killed the start of what should be a prolonged honeymoon period.

Coen was already a fan favorite last week for calling an audible on his initial decision to stay with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as offensive coordinator, which came hours after the Jaguars fired maligned general manager Trent Baalke .

Though Coen understandably denied Baalke's dismissal played any part in his about-face (wink, wink), most black-and-teal supporters view him as sort of a white knight for making that divorce happen. They wanted Baalke out the door.

Coen did a masterful PR job in explaining his 180-degree turn from his Bucs' employment, to pursuing the Jaguars' job.

"As you start doing research and gaining 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," said Coen. "You ultimately want to do truly what's best for you and your family, and that's what this came down to."

Notice the balance in how he avoided throwing Baalke under the bus, while emphasizing the landing of a dream job.

That's the kind of situational awareness you want from an NFL head coach. Hopefully, Coen can translate that to the field on Sundays.

As he did as offensive coordinator in 2024 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, newly hired Jacksonville Jaguars' head coach Liam Coen will be calling plays for his new employer.

Coen's liftoff started in L.A.

Les Snead, the Los Angeles Rams ' general manager for 13 seasons, is one of the few NFL executives who had a front-row seat to witness Coen's evolution as an offensive mind.

Coen spent four seasons (2018-20, '22) with the Rams, in-between successful OC stints at Kentucky. Snead sees a similar progression as other young, successful NFL head coaches.

The Rams' own Sean McVay, the Green Bay Packers ' Matt LaFleur, the Cincinnati Bengals' Zac Taylor and the Minnesota Vikings ' Kevin O'Connell all came through SoFi Stadium, earning a reputation as rising stars. The foursome has since combined for 10 division titles and 15 playoff appearances in 23 seasons, including McVay winning a Super Bowl.

While it's not guaranteed Coen follows their successful path, Snead has an interesting perspective on whether he can jump-start Jacksonville's losing franchise in his first crack at running the show.

"Obviously, there's a lot of nuances," Snead told the Times-Union. "What I think Liam brings to the table as an OC is probably similar to all those guys, some of whom had been to other places. A lot of that group was trained under [ San Francisco 49ers coach] Kyle Shanahan and [former NFL head coach] Jon Gruden.

"There's a level of OC and DC in this league that is more modern in their thinking. Liam, too. It came to fruition what he can do last year in Tampa where he could put his fingerprints on it [as a play-caller]."

Betting on Coen being game-changer

What Coen did with Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield , elevating him to a career year in 2024 after a few meh seasons at three different stops, made Jaguars owner Shad Khan take notice. Plus, he heard a lot of positive feedback about Coen at several NFL events.

New Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen fields questions from media after speaking and being introduced during a press conference next to owner Shad Khan Monday, Jan. 27, 2025 at the Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]

Then, when Khan met him for the first time on Jan. 15 during a Zoom interview, Coen left an indelible impression on his future boss.

"I really wanted to make sure he was part of the 10 [initial interviews], and as we went through the process, I mean, it was absolutely compelling," said Khan. "He's the right guy for us."

Given that Khan had chastised the Jaguars' "predictable offense" after firing Doug Pederson, he leaned heavily toward hiring someone who could push the buttons to deliver a more entertaining product.

Like many NFL fans, Khan can't help but get intoxicated by a coach who can put points on the board. Last season, the Bucs averaged 29.5 points (third in league) after averaging nine fewer points the previous year.

Special coach: Jacksonville Jaguars retain special teams coordinator Heath Farwell, will sign extension

The way Coen orchestrated that pyrotechnic unit, raising the running game production from 32nd in the NFL to fourth, it makes Snead think the youngest head coach in Jaguars' history might finally be the right breath of fresh air this franchise needs.

"I'm sure Shad is trying, as he works through the process, to do what's better for the Jacksonville Jaguars ," said Snead. "This is a very competitive league and it's not easy to find that right leader.

"My assessment from 30,000 feet up, being in the cockpit with Liam is, if this was a startup, I would invest in it."

Selling the Hall of Famer

As Coen answered questions on stage with Khan, selling the audience that included quarterback Trevor Lawrence and four Jaguars players on his vision, the team's only Hall of Fame player sat quietly listening in the front row next to Tony Khan (Shad's son).

Tony Boselli wasn't the least bit surprised about Coen's commanding presence. That's because he was in the interview room last week when the owner's favorite candidate — he preferred Coen over newly hired Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson — closed the deal.

Once Baalke was dismissed, Khan asked Boselli, who will have an unspecified future role in the organization, to sit in on interviews with former Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and Coen.

The legendary Jaguars offensive tackle can be loud and opinionated on radio, but he doesn't engage in much hyperbole. Boselli is a straight shooter, and he doesn't mince words on Coen.

"It was clear after talking to him that he's the right guy, I mean, crystal clear," said Boselli. "Sometimes you never know because you hear a lot, you do a lot of homework, you talk to people you trust. Everything from people around the league that I know, and will tell me the truth, was very positive about Liam.

"But you don't know until you sit down with him. I'll say this: probably within 10 minutes of walking in the room and starting the conversation, the thing that jumped off the page for me was the energy, the energy-plus. How clear and concise he was, what his vision was for the team, culture, how things should be done, if he was the head coach."

To be fair, Boselli acknowledges he has no idea how Coen will fare from a won-loss standpoint. Plenty of NFL head coaches struggled in the job — Josh McDaniels, Kliff Kingsbury and Arthur Smith among them — after great runs as offensive coordinators.

All Boselli can do is judge Coen based on what he's seen and heard in the past week. He gets a positive vibe that Coen can finally be the hire Khan has never been able to get right in five previous attempts.

Most importantly, what Coen needs to be is a proper guiding light for Lawrence, something that has eluded him the first four seasons of his NFL career.

"I think Trevor is probably very excited," said Boselli. "Liam will do what he's done everywhere he's been, which is have great offenses. The body of work speaks for itself. There was no question whether he could build great offenses or help develop quarterbacks. He's proven that.

"The question I wanted to understand was what type of leader are you going to be? That's what jumped out at me. In my heart, I believe he's an A-plus leader. That's going to be one of the greatest qualities he's going to bring to this organization."

Coen needs coaching up on 'Duuu-val'

There are some risks in any coaching hire and Coen is no exception.

Unlike a lot of NFL assistants who were promoted to head coach, Coen doesn't have a long NFL resume. The former UMass quarterback, who owns every significant passing record at his alma mater, spent his first eight coaching seasons at small colleges in three different New England states.

McVay hired him as an assistant wide receivers coach (2017) after a one-year stint as the Maine offensive coordinator. Not many low-level pro assistants fly to the top of the NFL coaching ladder that quickly.

But Coen's resume is eerily similar in NFL experience as many of those other ex-Rams — McVay (8 years), Taylor (7 years) and O'Connell (7 years). The Jaguars can only hope that's a good omen for what Coen may bring to Jacksonville.

For openers, it's hard not to like how authoritative Coen was in talking about transforming the Jaguars' putrid 32nd-ranked defense. He didn't talk about scheme so much as having an identity.

"I want savages," Coen told a small media group after his press conference. "Yeah, just that physical mindset. When our opponents turn on the tape, what are they looking at? Are they seeing guys playing through the echo of the whistle? I mean, the echo.

"You might get a flag or two early on, [telling players] 'Man, hey, let's pull back a little.' But I want them playing on the edge. It's a violent game. They have to be that way."

Jaguars fans will no doubt endorse Coen bringing that aggressive, high-energy mentality to both sides of the ball.

Unfortunately, Coen needs serious coaching up in some other areas, like that lame "Duuu-val" he attempted midway through the press conference.

The Jaguars can fix that. Just show Coen any postgame victory speech from Pederson to the players in the locker room when he closes it with a robust "Duuu-val" chant.

Look, Liam. Just get a Trevor-led offense humming and find a way for the Jaguars to stop losing so many close games. That's the hard part.

Don't worry about learning how to yell a proper "Duuu-val." The Jaguars' fans will teach you.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com : (904) 359-4540

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars' Liam Coen should elevate Trevor Lawrence career

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