After ousting Doug Pederson, the Jacksonville Jaguars conducted an extensive search to find his replacement. They ultimately zeroed in on Liam Coen. The decision turned out to be the right one, but it may not have been easy.
Throughout the process, the Jags interview several intriguing candidates. Some were better suited for the job than others. Looking back, they're surely glad they passed on one who isn't having much success as a head coach.
Aaron Glenn's stint with the NY Jets is off to a rocky start
Former Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn was one of the top candidates for the vacancy with the Jaguars last year. While he didn't get the job, the New York Jets hired him as their head coach, so you could make the case that things turned out just fine for him. Having said that, his first season in the Big Apple left much to be desired.
Glenn needed eight weeks to get his first win as a head coach and went 3-14. That's not necessarily bad when you take into account that he inherited a team without much talent and a long-term answer at quarterback. The fact that general manager Darren Mougey gutted the roster didn't help matters. On the other hand, he's made several decisions related to his staff that have raised eyebrows across the league.
Midseason, Glenn dismissed defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. Once the year ended, he fired offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand. Ok, no big deal. He was a rookie head coach, and it's better to accept you made mistakes rather than doubling down. The issue is that New York is having trouble filling both vacancies because neither coordinator will apparently call plays.
This begs the question, why would you want to be a coordinator for a team if you won't be able to call your own shots? Granted, Grant Udinski doesn't handle playcalling duty, but Liam Coen is grooming him so he can do it down the road with the Jags or his own team.
This is a long-winded way to say that it's common for head coaches to develop their guys so they can consistently replenish their staff. However, you will have trouble attracting external candidates to be their coordinators if you're not going to let them run the show. That's probably why former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden told the Jets that he wasn't interested in joining them when they reached out to him.
The Jaguars hit it out of the ballpark with Liam Coen
One of the biggest concerns surrounding Liam Coen during the Jaguars' head-coaching process is that he had been hopping from job to job in previous years. Other than that, he made a strong impression with his leadership skills and knowledge of football.
Once Coen was hired, he was ridiculed for how he did the Duuuval chant. Talkings wasted no time declaring that he was going to flame out. He didn't, quite the opposite.
In Coen's first season, the Jags won 13 games, the most they had since 1999, and seized the AFC South. Moreover, they developed an identity, becoming a feisty team that would keep trying until the whistle blows. The only first-time head coach who had as much success and even more was Ben Johnson with the Chicago Bears. Sure, the New England Patriots also hired Mike Vrabel in 2025, but he had prior experience at the position.
The bottom line is that the Jaguars chose well. And while there's a chance Aaron Glenn will turn things around, the early results don't inspire much confidence.