As the Buccaneers become the first team to lose their offensive coordinator in back-to-back years since the 2013-14 Ravens, that development came after it initially looked like the NFC South team had reached an agreement to retain Liam Coen. A Jaguars front office decision certainly looks to have changed Coen’s plans.
When the Jaguars fired Trent Baalke not long after Coen declined a second interview, the AFC South club contacted its top candidate and asked he would reconsider in light of the GM shakeup, according to ESPN.com. Baalke’s presence was believed to be a deterrent for certain coaching candidates this year, and while Coen was among them, ESPN’s Michael DiRocco indicates the GM was not the main reason Coen initially declined a Jags second meeting. That said, Coen’s Wednesday call “embarrassed” the Jaguars, who abruptly changed course as a result.
Upon firing Doug Pederson on Jan. 6, Shad Khan called a full-on overhaul — which a Baalke ouster would have meant — “suicide” for the organization. Yet, barely two weeks later, he was gone. The Jags had seen Ben Johnson express issues with their setup, as Baalke was running a search that could have ended with him out the door — depending on the hire. That undoubtedly would have influenced the four-year Jags GM to go in certain, safe directions. Instead, he is out and Coen will now have a major say in who replaces the embattled exec.
Coen told GM Jason Licht he sought a record-breaking OC sum to stay in charge on offense, SI.com’s Albert Breer notes, with Fox Sports’ Greg Auman indicating the Bucs were prepared to pay him would close to $4.5MM per year. We heard Wednesday the number would have been in the Vic Fangio neighborhood among top coordinator salaries. Coen will make much more with the Jags, who have been tied to authorizing “Johnson-level money.” Bucs ownership approved Coen’s raise but did not with to continue a negotiating battle with their one-year OC, Breer adds. Though, the sides were not done talking money.
The initial Tampa Bay offer emerged before Coen’s virtual interview with the Jaguars, which the Glazer family encouraged him to take. Bucs ownership, however, said its offer to Coen was contingent on him not taking a second Jaguars interview. (However, even had Coen signed a Bucs contract, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio adds NFL rules would have prevented the Bucs from blocking any further Jags meetings.)
Certainly realizing he had a great chance at the Jags job, Coen again asked the Bucs for more money. Tampa Bay ownership responded, per Breer, by confirming no additional raise would come. Although the Bucs wanted a Coen answer on their initial proposal by Monday, he stalled until Wednesday. During that wait, a report indicated the Bucs were prepared to lose Coen. Though, this was all before the Jags’ Baalke decision. Baalke’s previous presence in Jacksonville looks to have kept Tampa Bay’s offer to Coen viable.
Coen, 39, informed the Bucs he was staying and would sign an extension. That did not deter the Jags, who were the only team believed to be seriously considering Coen. This would have stood to limit Coen’s leverage. After all, he has not stayed with the same employer since the 2018-20 seasons, his first stint with the Rams, and his Rams OC stay did not go well in 2022. The Cowboys, Raiders and Saints did not interview Coen. But the Bucs talks doubled as his other option, strengthening his stance in this Florida battle.
Reports Thursday indicated the Bucs were unable to reach Coen, who was to sign the deal Wednesday afternoon, but he asked Licht if he could instead do so Thursday. By Thursday morning, the Bucs had not heard from him. Assistant GM Mike Greenberg contacted Coen about the contract of another offensive assistant. That call went unanswered, as did Licht and Todd Bowles efforts to reach the 2024 Bucs OC, per Breer, who adds Coen’s agent then informed the Bucs his client was dealing with a personal matter. After more Bucs attempts to reach Coen failed, he told Bowles of the personal matter Thursday afternoon while also informing his boss he was still considering the Jacksonville job. A Jags source then tipped off the Bucs Coen was in Jacksonville.
This component does not exactly make Coen’s handling of the situation look great, though Breer indicates the Jags wanted Coen to keep his belated Duval County visit secret. But he has successfully moved up the coaching ladder — albeit in a roundabout manner — with the extraordinarily rare chance as a rookie HC to effectively choose his GM. Kyle Shanahan had this opportunity in 2017, but he had certainly climbed to a higher NFL perch by the time the 49ers gave him that power. Coen is a two-time NFL OC, though the ex-Sean McVay hire only has two years on the job (and two more in college, at Kentucky).
Coen’s delay also gave the Jaguars the chance to meet the Rooney Rule requirement. They had interviewed multiple minority candidates already, but only one of those meetings (Robert Saleh‘s) was in-person. While Coen was negotiating, the Jags met with Raiders DC Patrick Graham, who could have canceled his meeting had word of the Coen talks leaked.
This also does not shine a good light on Jacksonville’s search, but this is hardly the only team to use the Rooney Rule as a box to check rather than giving strong consideration to hiring a minority candidate. Saleh’s second interview never happened, as the Coen matter moved toward the goal line, and the former is now back with the 49ers as DC.
Despite Coen’s uneven resume, many within the Bucs organization viewed him as HC-ready, ESPN.com’s Jeff Darlington tweets. In fact, Darlington adds that a scenario in which the team fired Bowles and promoted Coen was believed to have been in play if Week 18 had ended without a playoff qualification. This would have reminded of the Bucs’ decision to fire Lovie Smith and promote his OC (Dirk Koetter) in 2017. The Bucs also promoted from within to fill their current HC job, with Bruce Arians‘ resignation elevating Bowles, who is now looking for a new play-caller yet again.
Bowles has dodged firing rumors for years now, having mounted charges to the NFC South title in each of the past two after hanging on to secure the Bucs a playoff home game in Tom Brady‘s final season. The Bowles part of this messy divorce makes his status worth monitoring next season, but for now, he will set his sights on another OC search.
This is a Complete Clown Show
However Coen wants the job …so he can take the job and he can take his Jet Sweep with him and stick it up his receiver
Smh
The Bucs simply have to do a better job of retention…it looks like Amatuer hour down there
Not any better on Jacksonville’s end either. That’s an even worse clown show. Idk how they’ll even find a GM to work there.
Maybe Telesco can apply
How exactly do you expect them to do a better job of retention? If teams are interested in their coordinators for head coach jobs, their coordinators leave. There’s really no way around it other than to have less success… which defeats the purpose.
The system sucks and Coen is sneaky…shame on him
People leave jobs for promotions all the time. The only reason it sucks is because we have a personal interest, but it’s a very fair system.
There are very few coordinators that don’t want to be head coaches.
You can’t blame the team when their coaches get promotions.
I dunno, the way that Coen went about it wasn’t normal at all. You give your word and sign a deal after working Tampa over to give you a huge contract, and then use that to fire Baalke (who of course should have already been gone), and renege and take that job and ghost your old team for two days? Yeah, if that’s not sneaky, I’d like to know what more could be done to make it so.
The more that comes out about this, the less trustworthy it makes Coen look. Sure, he got the best deal for himself, but the way he did it would make it very hard to trust his word at all.
And what about the players he coached ?
His attitude was like the hell with them
Isn’t that the attitude in professional sports in general?
Players demand trades, leave in free agency for better teams and higher contracts, hold out, and try to sway their draft location.
Coaches leave for better positions, have a say in trading players, etc.
Despite all this, it never seems like there are too hard of feelings because it’s just the reality of the situation. Coen doesn’t owe the players anything.
Well I don’t think Coen released all these intricate details about his communication and whereabouts…
Coen sounds like he’ll fit right in with the Jags. Seriously ghost your employer? D-bag move.
That’s how it goes in the sports world. It’s a dog eat dog business.
Guys that take a shady route to the top like this usually fail. Not being upfront with the organization that put you in position to make the career jump is bush. Best of luck in Jacksonville where all careers take off
lol, the same org that tried to strong arm him from having a second interview for his ultimate professional goal of becoming an NFL HC? Yeah , that makes sense
Yeah, Belichick sure was a failure, wasn’t he? Give me a break.
This is the part where we find out Mayfield is the author of his own success, not TB’s coaches.
Hahaha
Just another episode in the NFL soap opera, ‘As the Football Turns’.
does anyone proof read these?
Shad Khan simply has no idea how to oversee a football organization. His one redeeming quality is that he has less ego than Mark Davis and David Tepper who frequently delude themselves into believing they have some football smarts.
At least they are done with Baalke. To late though, they may have had a shot at Johnson if they dumped him a week or two ago. I also wonder why they never considered Mark Brunell for head coach. Might be a good OC candidate. You can’t play 19 years and not learn something.
Add Jerry Jones to that list. He’s been bungling the Cowboys for years (moreso the last few seasons)
Jerry just sits at the microphone doing PR stuff. His son Steve runs the day to day operations now but that is not to say the Cowboys aren’t doing a fine job of bungling things.
Khan doesnt know how to own a football tm
But he does invest in jags & is passionate abt their success. More than you can say abt many ownerz in nfl & other sports
Coen is A solid hire
Need a good gm now
Dig your Vibes Cat !!!
Rams lost their OCs in consecutive years (2021 and 2022)
True, and good point, but I don’t think that they called plays, right? I think in these examples the coordinators did call plays, even if it wasn’t spelled out properly.