Jaguars name Liam Coen head coach

Liam Coen (YouTube)

According to Michael DiRocco of ESPN on Thursday, Liam Coen has been named the new head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Coen had been the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past season.

How Coen became the Jaguars head coach this past week was a significant story by itself. He was initially scheduled to meet with the Jaguars franchise earlier in the week about the head coaching job. However, Coen backed out of a meeting with general manager Trent Baalke, was set to stay in Tampa, and become the highest paid coordinator in the National Football League. The fact that there was no second meeting between Coen and Baalke angered Jaguars owner Shad Khan, who fired Baalke on Wednesday. The change in direction in Jaguars management made Coen change his mind and join Jacksonville.

Coen is partially credited for getting the most out of Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield this past season. Now he will be trying to get the most out of quarterback Trevor Lawrence. This was clearly something former Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson was unable to do.

As a player, Coen played one season of professional football with the Alabama Vipers of the Arena Football League. He then spent the last 15 years as a coach. Coen was with Brown University as their quarterbacks coach (2010, 2012 and 2013), University of Rhode Island as their quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator (2011), the University of Massachusetts as their passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach (2014 and 2015), offensive coordinator of University of Maine (2016 and 2017), the Los Angeles Rams assistant wide receivers coach (2018 and 2019), the Rams assistant quarterback coach (2020), the University of Kentucky offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach (2021 and 2023), and the Rams offensive coordinator (2022).