John Romano: Will Liam Coen bet on himself and stay or gamble on Jacksonville?

John Romano, Tampa Bay Times on Jan 21, 2025

Published in Football

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TAMPA, Fla. — It’s pretty obvious why the Jaguars are sniffing around Liam Coen.

He’s young, he’s personable and he just engineered one of the more impressive offensive turnarounds the NFL has seen in recent years. For a team such as Jacksonville with a young quarterback and a lot of empty seats in the bleachers, Coen can fill out an attractive job application.

The harder part of the equation is what Coen might see in the Jaguars.

Oh, for sure, it’s a big promotion. It’ll come with a hefty pay raise and a huge step up in profile. And, heaven knows, Byron Leftwich could tell Coen, 39, a cautionary tale of what happens when the coaching carousel passes you by.

But the world is also filled with longtime assistants who bombed in their one and only shot as the big boss. While it’s hard to pass up a chance at a position held by only 32 people in the world at any given moment, it might be worth considering in this situation.

Simply put, Jacksonville has been a nightmare franchise for a very long time. Since Shad Khan bought the team late in 2011, the Jaguars have the worst record in the NFL. And it’s not particularly close. The Jags are 64-148 (.302) since 2012. The next-closest team is the Browns at 73-138-1.

Under Khan’s leadership, the Jaguars have had four general managers/vice presidents, five head coaches and two playoff appearances. Along the way, the NFL Players Association sent a letter to every member warning them about the number of grievances filed against the Jaguars while Tom Coughlin was running the front office in 2019, and Urban Meyer was fired a couple years later before a full-scale mutiny could break out.

And, yes, I’m aware of the irony. Tampa Bay carried the worst-franchise baton for a lot of years before handing it off to Jacksonville. The Bucs had their own collection of forgotten coaches (Raheem Morris, Greg Schiano, Lovie Smith, Dirk Koetter) before emerging from the loser’s wilderness.

But, somewhere along the line, the Glazers put their faith in general manager Jason Licht, and Licht delivered Bruce Arians, Tom Brady, a Super Bowl and five consecutive postseason appearances.

Now, it’s at least worth considering whether Coen is better off sticking around Tampa Bay for another season.

Why would he do that?

Because Baker Mayfield has been a better NFL quarterback than Trevor Lawrence. Because Bucky Irving is among the best rookie running backs we’ve seen in some time. Because the offensive line was stellar in 2024 and because Mike Evans is still a beast.

Also, there is this:

The Glazers could — and should — sweeten the pot for Coen. Vic Fangio, Steve Spagnuolo and Todd Monken are reportedly among the highest-paid assistants in the NFL with salaries in the $3.5 million-4.5 million range. Pushing Coen’s salary to $3 million would get him in the same neighborhood as head coach Todd Bowles and would suggest the franchise has plans for him down the road.

One of two things are likely to happen in the next 12 months:

The Bucs build on their 10-7 finish with one of the youngest teams in the NFL and emerge as a Super Bowl contender in 2025, or they stumble and the Glazers opt to make a change with just one year remaining on Bowles’ contract.

Either situation could work to Coen’s advantage as long as the offense continues scoring at nearly 30 points a game.

Another playoff season could increase his stock as a head coaching candidate around the league and he has additional job choices, or he becomes a possible successor to Bowles.

It’s definitely a risk for Coen. If he’s Jacksonville’s top candidate, and that appears to be the case, the safer choice is to take the job.

But there is precedent in the Coen family when it comes to looking at the bigger picture. Almost 25 years ago, Tim Coen gave up a job as the head coach at a small university in Rhode Island to return to the high school ranks so he could be his son, Liam’s, coach. They won two state titles and had two runner-up finishes with Liam as the quarterback at La Salle Academy.

About 20 years later, Liam bet on himself when he left a coordinator-in-name-only job with the Rams to go back to the University of Kentucky, where he could call plays and nurture his own offensive schemes. That gamble worked out brilliantly for Coen when Bowles took note of his offensive acumen during a Georgia-Kentucky game and brought him back to the NFL after a one-year absence.

What do you think?

Will Liam Coen defy the odds again this week and stick around Tampa Bay?