Liam Coen Takes Accountability for Kentucky Shortcomings in 2022

Even though Liam Coen spent the 2022 football season in Los Angeles, he still takes blame for how the year unfolded in Lexington.

Tuesday afternoon Coen was re-introduced as the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator. After leading Kentucky to a 10-win season in 2021, two months later he went back to the Rams to take the same position. After wrapping up a disappointing year in the professional ranks, he’s coming back to Kentucky to fix an offense that reverted in his absence.

“Improvement needs to be made,” Coen told BBN Tonight. “The beautiful thing is we’re all a part of it. We’re all a part of why the standard ultimately did fall short. I’m a part of it, and we need to come in and fix it.“

Not only did the Kentucky offense struggle (dropping from No. 21 to No. 97 in one season), Coen experienced his fair share of problems on the west coast. The Defending Super Bowl Champs did not spend much of their season defending it. Injuries to Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp quickly put them out of contention. The Rams’ 12 losses were the most ever by a defending Super Bowl Champ. Through all the hardships, Liam Coen believes he learned valuable lessons in his one year away.

“Definitely how to deal with adversity. We had it good here for a long time. In years prior when I was here we came off a playoff game against the Packers, then I went right to Lexington and then we had a really successful first year. All was really good, right? All was great, but once you hit some bumps in the road, you have some injuries, some adversity, ultimately that’s coaching. Ultimately that’s how you deal with some of these things,” he said.

“It makes you a better football coach. It makes you a better person. I do believe coming back made me a little hardened, in terms of how to be able to deal with things that wouldn’t naturally come up. Each season’s its own entity. This was a challenging, difficult season and we had some unbelievable wins I’ll remember the rest of my life.”

Liam Coen on Leary, Improving Wide Receiver Room

Liam Coen signed his contract on Dec. 12, but stuck with the Rams to finish the season “the right way.” That’s still ongoing. He’ll have a Zoom press conference tomorrow, but there are still exit interviews and other logistical hoops to jump through before he moves back to Kentucky next Wednesday.

If he could, he’d start working with Devin Leary on day one. Unfortunately, they have to wait till spring practice. Coen is excited to see what the offense will look like with Leary under center.

“Devin’s a player from South Jersey that just kind of has that it factor. He can come out and play the game, was super successful at NC State as a true, natural thrower of the football. He ended up getting injured last year, but he’s coming off that injury now.

“I feel like he can come in and do some really great things different than Will. He’s a different style of player. He’s seasoned so we might have to do some things differently than we did last time I was there, but ultimately you’re excited to have a guy come in that can throw the football at a high level. And I think he has the ability to lead and really reach and touch (people) from all walks of life, which is really important for the quarterback position. I’m excited about working with him and getting this thing rolling.”

Leary will be throwing to a bunch of wide receivers that Liam Coen helped bring to Kentucky, but never got the chance to directly work with before his departure. Dane Key and Barion Brown had explosive, record-breaking freshmen seasons, but Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator wants to see more from them in 2023.

“The standard is high… there’s a lot of work to be done though. They have to get to the point where this is going to be a domination on every single snap they go out there.”

[BBN Tonight]