Liam Coen hired as Jaguars head coach: Buccaneers OC leaves after one season for ‘opportunity of a lifetime’

It’s been a wild couple days for former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who is now the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. In a statement released Friday, Jaguars owner Shad Khan officially announced the hiring.

“To repeat my message earlier this week, I am deeply committed to building a winner here in Jacksonville,” Khan said. “I also believe in being judged by actions, 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. I am pumped that Liam is accepting the challenge and opportunity to build the winner that Jaguars fans and partners fully deserve. I know our players feel the same.”

Coen, who coached in Tampa this season, pulled himself out of contention for the Jaguars job on Wednesday to stay with the NFC South champions. At the time, CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones reported that the Buccaneers agreed to terms to make Coen one of the NFL’s highest-paid offensive coordinators.

Things changed, however, after the Jaguars fired general manager Trent Baalke.

“Becoming the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars is an opportunity of a lifetime, and one that I am going run with to instill a championship culture and winning tradition here in Duval,” Coen said in a statement, via Peter Schrager of the NFL Network.

Jones reported that Jacksonville circled back with a new offer to Coen after the dismissal of Baalke. Additionally, Tampa Bay’s attempts to reach Coen went unanswered much of the day until later on Thursday evening after reports leaked out that he was back in play as the Jaguars’ top head-coaching candidate.

Coen, who will turn 40 on Nov. 8, succeeded Dave Canales as Tampa Bay’s offensive play-caller, and the Buccaneers didn’t skip a beat. They won the division for a fourth consecutive season while producing the NFL’s No. 4 scoring offense (29.5 points per game) and ranking third in total offense (399.6 yards per game).

Quarterback Baker Mayfield registered career bests in completion percentage (71.4%), passing yards (4,500), passing yards per attempt (7.9), passing touchdowns (41) and passer rating (106.8) while running Coen’s attack in 2024.