The Biggest Liam Coen Critic, What's Next for UK & a Super Bowl Preview
The grind does not stop during the offseason. In-between recruiting responsibilities, Kentucky football coaches are meeting with players to install the offense and self-scouting, crunching tape of the Cats to reveal tendencies and discover areas of improvement. Liam Coen received some extra help with the latter that was, at times, unwanted.
Kentucky’s offensive coordinator comes from a football family. His grandfather, Phillip, played at Boston College in the 50s and later coached at Brown. His father, Tim, spent his life coaching at the collegiate and high school level. In seven seasons as the head coach at Salve Regina University in Newport, he went 53-12 before stepping down to coach Liam at La Salle Academy. Years after the younger Coen stepped off the high school football field, he’s still being coached by his father.
“After the season he’s here for the holidays before the bowl game and literally every single day, all he was streaming was our games’ TV copy,” Coen told McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “The entire time he was here. I’m trying to shut it off and he’s watching it. We’ve got every game. He’s asking me about every play-call. ‘Dude, you gotta give me a break.'”
Even during “family time,” Football Guys simply can’t help themselves. After all, for the Coens the best family time includes football.
“He still just wanted to drill me. That’s what it came down too,” Coen laughed. “He’s a big supporter. Love the guy.”
What’s Next for Coen at Kentucky
During his conversation on the radio, Coen spent time talking about the upcoming Kentucky football season. Even though the Wildcats lost a ton of production at wide receiver, he’s confident the Cats can keep the offense humming with Will Levis under center.
“I think it’s a huge opportunity for some young skill players and some new skill players coming into this building to make up for 2,000 yards receiving. We lost 2,000 yards with Wan’Dale (Robinson) and Josh Ali. There’s a lot of production to make up for here and we have some young skill players in the building we feel good about. We have some transfers coming in we feel good about and when you have the quarterback coming back you always feel good about the situation. He gives us a chance every week,” Coen said.
“Having Chris Rodriguez and our running backs coming back is a great deal. We need to replace some guys up front. Feel good about some of the guys that are coming back. We added Tashawn Manning from Auburn, who’s been a great addition. Still looking right now for probably one more up front, but feel great about the guys. Moving forward, we’ve had a a good couple weeks, just some installs and things like that. Look forward to getting into spring ball to see some of these guys compete.”
Super Bowl LVI Preview
Kentucky’s offensive coordinator has transformed into an analyst ahead of Super Bowl LVI. An assistant with the Rams when Zac Taylor was also on Sean McVay’s staff, few share the perspective Coen brings into this matchup. He did not predict what will happen Sunday between the Rams and Bengals, but he did provide intimate knowledge of what makes the teams tick offensively.
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