“I Want So Badly For Liam Coen To Get Hired Somewhere Else”
December 28th, 2024
Wants Bucs fans to freak out.
Bucs fans, what did you do to Ben Solak?
The BSPN NFL columnist and analyst seems to be a pleasant fellow. Joe used to periodically listen to his Ringer podcast. And Joe reads his columns on the four-letter’s website.
But what did Bucs fans do to sour Solak on them?
Appearing on his colleague Mina Kimes’ podcast this week, Solak noted that Bucs fans who Twitter him seem to have a strong desire to wash their hands of current coach Todd Bowles and promote offensive coordinator Liam Coen to replace him.
Joe can understand the argument. Bowles, a defensive guy, has not been able to fix his woeful pass defense. And the Bucs just do not have an edge rush, despite plenty of draft capital this decade spent on edge rushers. It’s so bad the Bucs are even bringing Shaq Barrett out of mothballs.
Yet Bucs coaches seem fully indifferent to an edge rush. This just drives Joe mental and up a tree.
So, Bucs fans, seeing Coen work magic with the Bucs offense and seeing Bowles’ defense drag the team down, would rather Coen take over the Bucs.
Bowles, for reasons that Joe is unclear about, has never been a popular figure with Bucs fans, despite getting the Bucs to two straight division titles in his first two years as Bucs head coach, and maybe a third in three years within the next eight days.
So apparently Bucs fans may be bombarding Solak with pleas for the Bucs to promote Coen. Does Solak have some sort of weird influence over Team Glazer?
Anyway, Solak seems miffed at Bucs fans if he wants evil to befall them. So Solak openly hopes Coen bolts the Bucs.
“Hey, do you have a lot of Bucs fans in your mentions that say they should fire Bowles to promote Coen?” Solak asked Kimes.
“I have seen that floating around,” Kimes smiled.
“I want so badly for Liam Coen to get hired somewhere else so that Bowles can hire another OC,” Solak said. “Just to see how Bucs fans deal with it.
“They are very committed, I feel like, to [Coen’s] future.”
That’s sort of an a-hole attitude. You hope a coach bolts a team just so you can watch a fanbase meltdown? Why?
Joe never got the impression that Solak is a tool. What, did Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht refuse to hire him at some point?
Did Solak bring something unwanted home with him after visiting one of the many clothing-optional establishments on Dale Mabry Highway? Did he get badly sunburned on Clearwater Beach? Does he not like Cuban sandwiches?
Joe has no idea why Solak eagerly desires for Bucs fans to wallow in misery — unless Solak wants payback for some reason.
Or, is Solak a closet Eagles fan?
December 28th, 2024 at 12:04 am
That is just ignorant on his part! Like who says that? What a tool.
December 28th, 2024 at 12:12 am
He is on this site as Kayla send all your comments to her.
December 28th, 2024 at 12:13 am
low key falcon’s fanboy………………..or something
December 28th, 2024 at 12:18 am
‘seem to have a strong desire for the Bucs to wash their hands of current coach Todd Bowles’
BEST move the Bucs can make for the sake of their future!
December 28th, 2024 at 12:18 am
wonder if it’s baker-derangment syndrome. common in the media
December 28th, 2024 at 12:20 am
Some people have insinuated that Dirk Koetter replacing Lovie Smith had racial undertones. Upon close examination, it’s obvious that’s bs. But I wouldn’t be surprised if smarmy espn personalities are injecting that into their analysis of this similar situation
December 28th, 2024 at 12:21 am
To be honest…wefans have some epic meltdowns…
December 28th, 2024 at 12:23 am
ESPN has hated on Tampa since Dungy got fired.
December 28th, 2024 at 12:32 am
Lol – I understand how someone could get very annoyed with Bucs fans if they visited the comments section at JBF regularly.
December 28th, 2024 at 1:02 am
We have already had many years of Todd Bowles and his defense with weak corners and minimal pass rush. There are no racial undertones. It is all about lack of production. Solak is ESPN, maybe he has an agenda. He wouldn’t be the first.
December 28th, 2024 at 1:56 am
Well I hope Ben Solak stubs his toes every day and steps on wet with his socks on twice a day.
December 28th, 2024 at 2:09 am
I know this is a bit rough but would it be fair to say that “in return” of that comment and comments along the same lines deserve an eye for an eye? Would it be unseemly to suggest that some may hope that some commenters such as that one, get cancer so that we can watch him squirm?
Ok, a pretty low class shot at him just like the one he made at us…. But is it in the same spirit as his comments and shouldn’t he now expect distasteful for distasteful? Probably……. yeah.
December 28th, 2024 at 2:11 am
Some men, just want to watch the world burn.
December 28th, 2024 at 2:26 am
Nice Alfred Pennyworth reference. I’m gonna miss Michael Caine movies.
December 28th, 2024 at 2:27 am
Really?!?
Typical BSPN crap. Anyone who takes this dude, or for that matter anyone asociated with the used to be Sports netwoke needs to have thier heads examined for CTE.
Go Bucs!
December 28th, 2024 at 3:49 am
Solak has a bitter and below average take. Firethecannons, BSPN does have an agenda as do all MSM outlets, in this particular case of BSPN, a very NE major market bias/Bos-Wash, I saw his bio; he used to work in the Philly market before getting his current gig.
December 28th, 2024 at 4:32 am
The Bucs made it inspite of Bowles not because of. We should’ve never made it the last two years.
December 28th, 2024 at 4:45 am
Solak is definitely still an Eagles fan.
December 28th, 2024 at 5:43 am
“Bowles, for reasons that Joe is unclear about, has never been a popular figure with Bucs fans, despite getting the Bucs to two straight division titles in his first two years” Joe…… what is there not to understand ? Under 500 his first year and one game over his second, with 3 to 4 terrible time management mistakes that have cost games it appears as if he doesn’t have any idea what he is doing. When everyone can see his man defense is destroying a qb and his zone is making them look like Joe Montana, he keeps calling zone! “we stopped focusing on the opponent ” code for a “we do what we do” team.
December 28th, 2024 at 6:21 am
I have never heard of him. He seems unable to come up with a good topic or anything smart to say.
I do not like the idea of firing a guy to keep one of his assistants. It seems divisive. Surely some players will think the fired guy got hosed by his disloyal assistant.
December 28th, 2024 at 6:50 am
Do you really expect anything else from an Eagles fan? His first memory was probably Ronde Barber returning the INT for a TD. Then you have the Bucs beating the Eagles just last year in the Playoffs. He just can’t hide that crappy personality and lowlife attitude most of them have.
December 28th, 2024 at 6:57 am
I have to ask, what Buc fan would twitter this guy regarding the Bucs? Who cares what the talking “tool” heads think.
December 28th, 2024 at 6:58 am
He’s one of the toughest kids in his 6th grade drama class.
December 28th, 2024 at 7:12 am
I think the dude’s been drinking a little too much eggnog.
@Buccaneer Bonzai
Everyone’s hated on Tampa. Not just the NFL but the NHL & MLB, too!
December 28th, 2024 at 7:20 am
Sounds like a dooooooosh
December 28th, 2024 at 8:00 am
Larrd, I think you nailed something there. Everyone involved (players, coaches, front office) knows the NFL is a business, but there is a fine line between that and loyalty.
For whatever we may think of Bowles coaching ability I don’t know of anyone who would say he ever came close to losing the locker room. I have also never heard anyone who ever worked with him say a bad word about the guy. From everything I have ever read he seems like a fantastic person.
That doesn’t mean you can’t move on from him. It would just have to be done very carefully and respectfully, because I know he has at least earned that.
December 28th, 2024 at 8:08 am
Lee, do you believe them when they say they don’t care where the rush comes from? Obviously they are fibbing. They have an edge problem and they know it.
December 28th, 2024 at 8:13 am
He’s ugly and his mother dresses him funny
December 28th, 2024 at 8:13 am
He’s not a closet eagles fan at all. He’s quite open about that fact.
December 28th, 2024 at 8:15 am
From what I read last week, really where Coen is right now is the perfect situation, according to what whoever wrote that article. So he might sign a head coaching contract right here. That would be nice!! Let’s Go Bucs!!!!
December 28th, 2024 at 8:29 am
Like Kimes he is probably a Seahawks fan; who came into existence the same year as the Bucs: 2 SB’s Bucs vs 0 SB’s Seahawks!!!
December 28th, 2024 at 8:59 am
IMHO that’s a harsh take of Solak’s comments which could also be interpreted another way.
He concluded he wanted to see the Bucs fans have to “watch Bowles hire another OC”. Perhaps, like me, he just grows weary of all the absurd, hyperbolic, trashing of Bowles and would like to see vindication of Bowles. The very statement speaks of that, perhaps as in, first BOWLES hires an OC that gets praised into an HC position and then replaces him with an even better OC. Does Bowles get any credit for that?
Has Bowles made clock management that were mistakes, has he made other mistakes…OF COURSE…like Gruden’s love of older frequently washed up players, Dungy letting one of “his guys” start over Lynch until the guy got hurt and Lynch became legendary. NO coach gets everything right!!! Bowles is no exception.
BUT he does have some achievements in this league. And imagine this and optimist that I am even I concede it’s long odds but it is STILL POSSIBLE at this late date. The Bucs win the next two and go undefeated through the playoffs to another SB.
Bowles would have an SB as a player, DC, and HC and probably be getting HOF talk! Trust me I’m not betting a nickel the Bucs go an a six game or whatever win streak to another SB. But the fact that it’s even possible at this freaking late date says SOMETHING about Bowles besides clock management, too much zone, too conservative, he sucks yadda yadda.
I’ll confess. I’m hoping for a Bucs SB this year more than EVER BEFORE simply due to the weariness of Bowles hatred on this site.
December 28th, 2024 at 9:05 am
Larrd… we did it with Lovie & Dirk.
Didn’t work out for 2 reasons.
The new offensive guru head coach has to hire a decent DC… not a buddy who runs an ancient defence that is awful with the roster at that time.
The other lesser reason? Jamies Winston was drafted. Marcus Mariota, the other highly rated QB pick, no better. It’s all about timing and when we had the first pick in the draft, there were no all world QBs available. They all look pretty good coming out of college.
December 28th, 2024 at 9:09 am
I think if we lose one of the next two games and miss the playoffs, Cohen could very well be our new head coach. Yes Bowles won the division twice but the division was awful. He will be a sub .500 coach at that point. Will Bowles have deserved it, hard to say with all the injuries this season. He still is pretty bad at managing close games but he’s a decent player coach who’s developed some solid defenses for us.
December 28th, 2024 at 9:27 am
Durango, LOL!
December 28th, 2024 at 9:41 am
Haha hilarious people can’t recognize sarcasm and these types of comments would make him says things like that even more. He has a national platform and said YOU guys want to fire Bowles and promote Coen damn it’s joke sour arses. Basically those of you in Bowles corner are in the minority
December 28th, 2024 at 10:29 am
KABucs I think the Bucs also did it with Gruden and Raheem, in addition to Koetter/Lovie. Both teams seemed weak mentally after the switch, in retrospect. Raheem had one good year then the wheels came off.
December 28th, 2024 at 10:43 am
Enemy #1. Time to put his face on the dart board and the voodoo doll.
December 28th, 2024 at 11:01 am
None of these media members care about Tampa. The Bucs are an afterthought. Given no respect.
They either root for rivals of ours in the NFC, are jealous of Bucs success, jealous of Tom coming here and winning, or just like to flaunt their elitism and disregard the smaller markets.
December 28th, 2024 at 1:55 pm
SPBF, I loved your post. I feel the same way.
As for Solak, it’s probably his name. He is solack(ing) in integrity that he has to keep touting his missing validity.
December 28th, 2024 at 1:55 pm
Ben Solak? What ballet company is he with?
December 28th, 2024 at 3:22 pm
Don’t know who this douche nozzle is and don’t care. It sounds like he got a Tampa Buccaneers toy pirate ship stuck up his arse and maybe a piece broke off and is still there.
December 28th, 2024 at 4:06 pm
OR…..he is friends with or a fan of Bowles.
December 28th, 2024 at 4:21 pm
I turned on Bowles after 2nd loss to Falcons. He is the DC and any DC that has coached like he has this year would be fired. Just so happens he is HC but it should not make any difference, he needs to be held accountable
December 28th, 2024 at 4:28 pm
Joes, I know you have to make $$, but is this a FAN site or not? I’ve never heard/read of this bozo. What an insult to us fans, the day before a huge game at home in Tampa! Go Bucs!
December 28th, 2024 at 5:40 pm
Well, he looks like a 6th grade boy theater student, as Durango 95 astutely highlighted.
Meanwhile, read what Mike C said about the defense, the DC, and the HC, and enjoy some blunt truth.
December 28th, 2024 at 7:53 pm
Who???