How Liam Coen Became the Perfect Coach for Duval

Liam Coen has come a long way as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars since his introductory press conference. His viral gaffe attempting his first "Duval" chant became a sensation, one that didn't instill much confidence that he could take a team that just came off a 4-13 season and bring them back to postseason relevancy.

Fast forward 16 weeks, and the Jaguars are leading the AFC South division at 11-4, with a puncher's chance at claiming the No. 1 seed in the conference and the first-round bye in the playoffs.

In their last game, Coen led his Jaguars to a road upset over the Denver Broncos, 34-20, ending their win streak at 11 games. On his way out of Mile High, Coen made sure to let the world know that he didn't appreciate Sean Payton calling Jacksonville a "small market" team.

Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, Tennessee Titans, Head Coach Liam Coen — Nov 30, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen smiles to the crowd as he walks of the field against the Tennessee Titans during the second half at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

The fire inside of Liam Coen

Liam Coen might be one of the youngest head coaches in the NFL, but he's worked relentlessly to get to where he is now. It wasn't like the Jacksonville Jaguars' decision to hire him was universally lauded as a great move. Sure, Coen had a fantastic season as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive coordinator in 2024, but he was largely unproven before that year.

Then, his infamous "DuvaAALlll" at his introduction tanked any remaining optimism that he'd be the one to bring this franchise out of the gutter. That one soundbite made him seem ill-prepared, goofy, anything but a leader of men capable of reviving such a cursed team. But Coen has quickly proven that he's as Duval as they come, an eternal underdog ready and willing to earn his respect in blood.

“Keep my name out of your mouth,”

Liam Coen and Robert Saleh exchange after Jaguars win. Saleh used the phrase “legal sign stealing” in news conference last week in reference to Coen. pic.twitter.com/yYcjm1oHIP
— BrentDanStuartMarcelAlivia (@ActionSportsJax) September 29, 2025

Between jawing with Robert Saleh after beating the San Francisco 49ers on the road, telling the world that he and his team don't want their overdue respect, and firing back at Sean Payton, the fire within Coen is evident, and it has the Jaguars on a heater. Jacksonville media asked him if he adopted the franchise's mentality or if the team took his:

#Jaguars HC Liam Coen after beating Denver: "A small market team like us can come into Mile High and get it done."

Earlier week, Broncos HC Sean Payton said: “It’s a smaller market but you see a real good team.”pic.twitter.com/iO4oNzxJTf
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) December 22, 2025

"I think it's probably a shared thought process, maybe in a lot of ways where... when we got together here almost a year [ago], whatever it's been with a lot of these players, they voiced some of this stuff. They voiced their desire to take the next step, and that [it] did feel like there was a group of guys that had a chip on their shoulder that needed an edge, that wanted to play with an edge. And look, so many people here do want to prove something.

"I think it's a group of guys that are proving something. Whether it's for a contract, whether it's for wins, whatever it is, all those reasons make up our edge. And that's something that we've talked about a lot from the moment we got together, is having an edge as a team and yeah, not really caring too much about the outside noise.”

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