Liam Coen schemed his way out of Tampa Bay and the Bucs have to clean up the mess
In the span of a day, former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen went from heralded and beloved by all Bucs fans to hated by the vast majority of them.Notice how the word "former" was typed out in the lede. That's because Coen agreed to become the next head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday […]
In the span of a day, former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen went from heralded and beloved by all Bucs fans to hated by the vast majority of them.
Notice how the word "former" was typed out in the lede. That's because Coen agreed to become the next head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night.
No, this is not some wailing, crying post about how much his departure will impact Baker Mayfield and the Bucs offense or anything like that. It's not the fact he took the Jacksonville job – it's how he went about it.
The story that came out is Coen's new deal with the Bucs contained a contingency that he wouldn't interview with the Jags for a second time. So what did he do? He secretly met with Jags owner Shad Khan on Thursday and ghosted the Bucs until later that evening after he met with them. Tampa Bay tried to reach him multiple times throughout the day, but he never answered and put the situation on his sick kid. When he finally spoke with Todd Bowles, he told him he was going to travel to Jacksonville to meet with Kahn and Co., but he was already in the building.
He kept pushing things back further and further throughout the process, per Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer. It's clear he was wavering the entire time.
Finally, at 11 a.m., Coen’s agent got back to the Bucs and informed them that his client was tending to a personal matter. Tampa waited a few hours, and then Licht, Bowles and other staffers tried, again, to get ahold of Coen.
During the 5 p.m. hour, Coen called Bowles and told him he was still dealing with his personal matter. He also told him that things had materially changed in Jacksonville, and that he was going to travel there to explore the opening. Within an hour of that phone call, a Bucs staffer got tipped off by someone in the Jaguars’ facility that Coen was already in the building.So, to sum it all up: Coen agreed to a new deal with the Bucs and said he wouldn't go through with a second Jags interview. He then secretly met with them, didn't tell the Bucs nor update them when they tried to reach out, and then put his absence on his child before agreeing to a deal with the Jags. – Albert Breer, Sports Illustrated
So, to sum it all up: Coen agreed to a new deal with the Bucs and said he wouldn't go through with a second Jags interview. He then secretly met with them, didn't tell the Bucs nor update them when they tried to reach out, and when he did speak with them, he basically lied about what was going on.
It's easily one of the slimiest maneuvers in recent memory. There's nothing wrong with taking one of just 32 NFL head coaching jobs in the entire world, but there's everything wrong with sneaking around behind an employer's back and then notifying them of the situation after the fact. And even then, Coen wasn't completely honest with them.
Coen wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for the Bucs and of course he doesn't owe them anything when it comes to staying as OC/taking a promotion. What he does owe, though, is respect in the form of honest transparency and knowledge of developments.
The fact Coen couldn't even provide that basic level of professionalism is a major strike against his character. In 2025, it's inexcusable to go as long as he did without communicating or notifying the Bucs of what was going on. Hell, even a simple text message would've sufficed over radio silence.
He has a history of going back-and-forth like this, too, and now it's all come to light. In the worst way possible, of course. Just check out all the people in the replies of this tweet calling him out and saying he'd leave after one year in Tampa Bay back in February of 2024. This is just who the man is, apparently:
And to think, he did all of this for the Jacksonville Jaguars. No, it wasn't any of the NFL's top-tier franchises like the Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, or Lions. It wasn't even any of the middling ones like the Seahawks, Texans, or Rams.
It's the Jags – one of the most dysfunctional organizations around (see the entire Trent Baalke situation) and one that's averaged about six wins per year since 2014. The roster is a mess outside of a few positions and ownership is questionable, at best. The Bucs are obviously much more conducive to sustained success at all levels of a franchise.
It's an absolute mess and the Bucs are the ones left to clean it all up. Fortunately for them, the coaching carousel is still in the early stages and there are viable candidates to choose from, both internally and externally. At least they aren't completely up the creek without a paddle.
We'll see who turns out to be the fourth offensive coordinator in as many years and there's zero guarantee they'll be able to replicate or build off what Coen was able to do. The one thing that is safe to say, though, is however their time ends with the Bucs – it won't go any worse than this.
