Jaguars Head Coach Search: Pros and Cons to Liam Coen's Candidacy

The Jacksonville Jaguars find themselves in a familiar spot in 2025: looking for a new head coach.

Jaguars owner Shad Khan has gone through five head coaches in 13 years, with each of Mike Mularkey, Gus Bradley, Doug Marrone, Urban Meyer, and Doug Pederson all coming up short in the process.

With the Jaguars search for their next coach now up and running, we are going to take a look at what each candidate brings to the table, their backgrounds and what potential drawbacks could be to their candidacy.

Next up: Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen.

Background

Brown (2010): Quarterbacks coach

Rhode Island (2011): Pass game coordinator & quarterbacks coach

Brown (2012-2013): Quarterbacks coach

UMass (2014-2015): Pass game coordinator & quarterbacks coach

Maine (2016-2017): Offensive coordinator

Los Angeles Rams (2018-2019): Assistant wide receivers coach

Los Angles Rams (2020): Assistant quarterbacks coach

Kentucky (2021): Offensive coordinator & quarterbacks coach

Los Angles Rams (2022): offensive coordinator

Kentucky (2023): Offensive coordinator & quarterbacks coach

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2024): Offensive coordinator

Pros

Coen presents one of the strongest cases to be the Jaguars next head coach of any of the candidates, largely because of his track record at the quarterback position in recent years. In just the past few seasons, Coen has helped Baker Mayfield have a career year, made Will Levis look like a potential first-round pick and was a key part of Matthew Stafford's success in Los Angeles.

Coen, who played the quarterback position in college, has proven that he knows how to maximize the position via his scheme. He does a great job of marrying the running and passing game, setting his quarterback up for success through play-action and by putting them in comfortable second- and third-down situations thanks to the running game.

Coen was a direct part of the Buccaneers having one of their best rushing seasons in franchise history in 2024, something past coordinators Dave Canales and Byron Leftwich failed to do. He did so while working with many of the same pieces as his predecessors, but Coen was able to get the most out of the unit.

That is all on top of Coen setting his quarterbacks up for success via easy-button plays like screens, RPOs, and play-action. Out of all of the coordinators in the NFL, Coen has proven he offers one of the most quarterback-friendly schemes in the entire NFL.

Cons

When looking at what Coen brings to the table, there are not many specific holes to point out other than his lack of general experience. With that said, the same was said about Kevin O'Connell and Sean McVay, and those two seemed to work out more than fine for their respective franchises. Still, it is the one glaring aspect of Coen's background that needs to be dived into.

In Coen's coaching career, which spans to 2010, only five of those seasons have been at the NFL level and four of those came in McVay's shadow. McVay has helped several assistants get nods at bigger jobs, but there is no question that he runs the show and the offense in Los Angeles. In terms of being a coordinator, Coen also only has two years under his belt.

Of those two years, only one has come away from McVay. It was a stellar, record-breaking season that saw Coen display the talent that makes him one of the best play-callers and offensive minds in football, but it is of course still worth noting -- especially if the Jaguars want their next head coach to be the one calling the plays.

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