Jacksonville Jaguars hire Liam Coen as head coach, bringing end to complicated saga

The Jacksonville Jaguars have finalized a deal to hire former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen as their next head coach, bringing an end to one of the more eventful hiring sagas in recent memory.

Coen woke up Thursday still the Buccaneers’ offensive play-caller after withdrawing his name from the Jaguars’ coaching search on Wednesday. Coen agreed to return to Tampa Bay under a new contract that would make him one of the highest-paid coordinators in NFL history. But he never signed that contract. As Thursday came to a close, Coen had a change of heart.

The problem from Tampa Bay’s point of view was that Coen secretly traveled to Jacksonville to meet with Jaguars owner Shad Khan on Thursday, per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. The Bucs were “furious” with Coen, whom Tampa Bay had not heard from since Wednesday afternoon. When Coen finally called head coach Todd Bowles at around 5 p.m. ET Thursday, he said he had been with one of his kids at a doctor’s appointment. Coen briefly mentioned to Bowles his desire to look back into the Jaguars’ opening after Khan fired general manager Trent Baalke Wednesday afternoon.

Coen told the Buccaneers Thursday night he was taking the job in Jacksonville, and he and the Jaguars reached a verbal agreement on a contract overnight. In landing Coen, the Jaguars are getting one of the league’s best offensive play callers who crafted one of the best offenses in Buccaneers history in his first year on the job.

Jaguars finally land Liam Coen as next head coach

He inherited the league’s No. 23 ranked offense from 2023 and guided that unit to a No. 3 finish in 2024. The Buccaneers averaged 399.5 yards and 29.5 points per game under Coen. Tampa Bay set franchise best marks in yards per carry (5.25), completion (71.5%) and third-down conversion rate (50.9%). Quarterback Baker Mayfield had his best season as a pro, throwing for 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns and 16 interceptions with a 106.8 passer rating.

Perhaps most impressive, Coen fixed the Buccaneers’ long suffering ground game. Tampa Bay had the NFL‘s worst rushing attack in 2022 and ’23. With Coen calling plays, the Buccaneers finished fourth in rushing this season. Tampa Bay set a franchise record with 2,536 rushing yards, 1,122 coming from rookie tailback Bucky Irving.

Now, Coen will work with talents such as quarterback Trevor Lawrence and receiver Brian Thomas Jr. in hopes of turning things around in Jacksonville. The next step for Coen and the Jaguars is finding a new general manager and filling out the coaching staff.

“To repeat my message earlier this week, I am deeply committed to building a winner here in Jacksonville. I also believe in being judged by actions, not words,” Khan said in a statement. “That’s why I took swift and decisive action this week to hire Liam Coen as the new head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. I am pumped that Liam is accepting the challenge and opportunity to build the winner that Jaguars fans and partners fully deserve. I know our players feel the same.”