Liking The Odds That Liam Coen Doesn’t Get The Jags Job
January 21st, 2025
Bucs OC Liam Coen.
Look, Joe is going to be selfish here. Look at the name of this here website.
Of course Joe hopes Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen stays, even though “this Joe” predicted he would be a head coach somewhere in 2025.
With Ben Johnson taking the Bears job (Godspeed), that left an opening for Coen with the Jags, who are setting up a second interview with him.
If the Jags are smart, they may just hire Coen. And that is where Bucs fans may hold the winning hand. Do you really think Jags owner Shad Khan is going to do the smart thing?
Khan is about as inept of an NFL owner as Joe has seen since Bill Bidwill. Say what you will about Hugh Culverhouse, but Joe actually remembers the Bucs in the 1979 NFC title game with Culverhouse as owner. Bidwill, the late owner of the Cardinals, never saw his team win more than one playoff game in a postseason (1998).
More often than not, the Cardinals under Bidwill were a total joke, moving from town to town but the stench of losing followed Bidwill wherever he put down stakes.
From 1949 through 1997, the Cardinals had zero playoff wins. Talk about lost decades!
After Bidwill handed control of the team to his son Michael, only then did the Cardinals ever win anything.
Khan is just about as bad, including his two games in London each season stunt. Awful.
This is the same guy who hired Urban Meyer to develop Trevor Lawrence. Think about how moronic that was. Meyer was and is an option guy. He had Joe Burrow at Ohio State and actually believed Dwayne Haskins was a better quarterback. Can you imagine?
Then Khan brings in the notorious Trent Baalke to run his team. Not only is Baalke a grossly overrated talent evaluator, but Baalke is reviled throughout the NFL. He’s about as blacklisted as they get. Many coaching candidates, if you believe some suits, refuse to interview with Khan because of Baalke.
And Khan recently said unless someone points out to him why Baalke shouldn’t be the general manager, he’s safe.
And folks really expect the Jags to ace this coaching search?
That’s why Joe has faith Coen will return to the Bucs (unless John Spytek ends up working with Tom Brady in Las Vegas). Joe doesn’t believe Khan has a clue, thus he won’t select Coen.
Unless you believe a broken clock is right twice a day and Khan accidently chooses Coen.
January 21st, 2025 at 4:47 am
There’s a good chance IMO that this is all ‘Much ado about nothing’. Bowles & Coen are close from what I’ve read. Chances are that Coen is using this Jaquars HC interview as ‘practice’ and that Bowles advised him to do that. Never hurts for coordinators to get real-world practice interviewing for one of the only 32 NFL HC jobs in the world.
I still see Liam as our “HC-in-waiting’ (and yes, Todd’s current contract runs through 2026 … IF he opts to stay that long). I also believe that the Bucs will raise Liam’s salary for next year sufficiently to keep him happy and keep him here (a little ‘Thank You’ for a job well-done in 2024?).
BTW, the disparity in what head coaches make is incredible IMO. Example: Andy Reid makes $20 mil per year; Sean Payton makes $18 mil; Mike Tomlin & Jim Harbaugh each make $16 mil, while Sean McVay makes $15 mil. Todd Bowles purportedly makes $3 mil per year to coach the Bucs, which would make him one of the lowest paid HCs in the league. I’m not even sure that I’d take the grief that he takes from this fanbase for that amount of money.
January 21st, 2025 at 5:35 am
Sounds like Bowles is being paid what he’s worth. That may sound harsh, hate to offend the Bowles fans, but if he was fired tomorrow, chances are he wouldn’t get hired as a DC let alone a HC.
January 21st, 2025 at 6:04 am
If Bowles himself is ill-equipped to handle the well earned critical reaction of a NFL team’s fanbase then we can add that to the list of other things he, himself is ill-equipped to do. There is no way to sugarcoat the performance of his defense and the countless times he failed to get his football team ready to play. Should Coen leave then Bowles will likely lay bare in front of the world and that is not something the fans of this team deserve.
January 21st, 2025 at 6:16 am
BTW.Should one think that CTB is underpaid then the best thing that could happen to him is to be released. That way he can actually test the market and find out exactly how much he is worth. Which would be a win-win for all involved.
January 21st, 2025 at 6:16 am
I would be curious, for everyone that wants to fire Todd off the pirate ship and replace him with Liam, what would be an acceptable performance by the team next year?
If he wins the division and loses in the Wild Card round, does he suck and need to be fired? What if that happens three years in a row, do we keep changing coaches?
January 21st, 2025 at 6:48 am
If Liam Coen had this exact same season next year the people calling for Bowles head would be lining up to make excuses for the guy and polish his boots for dessert. This can be seen by people lining up to defend the debacle of a first half and fourth quarter offense we saw in the Wild Card round.
January 21st, 2025 at 7:21 am
wow @defense rules is back…!
i thought he passed away or something…looking forward to solid postings moving forward…
wait i thought bowles made a lot more than 3 mil per year…
more like 5-10 per
January 21st, 2025 at 7:47 am
If Coen leaves at least Todd Blows in 100% fired after next year
If Coen stays Bucs will be an interesting team that will contend for an average Division again but with Todd here the Bucs are going NOWHERE of importance
Either way Bucs fans win
January 21st, 2025 at 8:07 am
Hey DR! Where ya been? Hope all is good!
January 21st, 2025 at 8:12 am
Thanks Joe for sealing the deal with this statement, “Do you really think Jags owner Shad Khan is going to do the smart thing?” Coen’s gone for sure now.
January 21st, 2025 at 8:14 am
Very possible that Coen was already promised the job here if he just waits a year or maybe 2. Would you go to the Jags instead of having the opportunity here in a year? Obvious decision if this is correct. Patient owners here, franchise qb here, stud rb here, awesome offensive line here, great gm here, great weather here, no income tax here. Have I missed anything?
January 21st, 2025 at 8:33 am
Let him go, the game plan vs the Commanders was terrible….Blah blah defense yeah we’ve heard, the offense was pretty flat in quite a few important games down the stretch. We will be ok with someone else.
January 21st, 2025 at 8:34 am
Or, as you point out, Baalke does the wrong thing as he is prone to do and hires Coen. At this point, Coen is just a 1 hit wonderboy statwise. He has floated a few turds this yr (see Dallas game and wildcard weekend). He is no proven anything more than he’s had a good season as an OC with a pretty solid set of players and a GM who had drafted him an oline in waiting. Jags need more than than an OC, they need a strong and proven HC to counter their floundering front office
January 21st, 2025 at 8:53 am
Imo Coen needs to prove he can manage situations. He’s been kinda mediocre at the situational playcalling this year.