Jaguars hire Bucs OC Liam Coen as head coach after making necessary moves
Jaguars hire Bucs OC Liam Coen as head coach after making necessary moves
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The Jacksonville Jaguars hired Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Liam Coen as the eighth head coach in franchise history Friday, capping a covert operation that included owner Shad Khan moving on from general manager Trent Baalke and Coen reversing course with the Buccaneers.
The sides officially agreed to terms a day after Coen called Bucs coach Todd Bowles and others to tell them he planned to sign with Jacksonville. “To repeat my message earlier this week, I am deeply committed to building a winner here in Jacksonville,” Khan said in a statement. “I also believe in being judged by action, not words. That’s why I took swift and decisive action this week to hire Liam Coen as the new head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.”.
How Khan made it happen will be remembered as one of the wildest coaching searches in NFL history. Khan surprisingly fired Baalke on Wednesday to clear a path for Coen to wind up in Jacksonville. Coen initially declined an in-person interview with the Jaguars because of Baalke, a 60-year-old GM who has a less-than-ideal reputation in league circles and talked Khan into firing Super Bowl-winning coach Doug Pederson following his third season in Jacksonville.
Coen instead agreed to a new, three-year contract with Tampa Bay that would have made him the NFL’s highest-paid coordinator, although it was contingent on him not taking a second interview with the Jags. But Coen never showed up to sign the deal — he ghosted his Tampa colleagues for hours — and secretly traveled to Jacksonville to meet with Khan, interim general manager Ethan Waugh, Hall of Fame left tackle Tony Boselli and others Thursday.
