For a brief moment, it looked like the Jacksonville Jaguars had the right head coach in Doug Pederson. After all, he helped them navigate the aftermath of the Urban Meyer debacle, while leading them to the playoffs and the AFC South title in his first season at the helm. However, things would eventually go sideways.
The Jags failed to qualify for the playoffs in Pederson's season and progressively got worse. By late 2024, it was clear that he had to go, so nobody batted an eye when the organization ousted him.
Of course, moving on from Pederson was just the first step. Next, the Jaguars needed to find a suitable replacement who could steer the ship in the right direction after finishing 4-13 in 2024 and missing the playoffs for the second year in a row. After an extensive search, they hired Liam Coen as their next head coach.
Liam Coen has been everything the Jaguars bargained for and then some
Early in the coaching search, Jacksonville was linked to Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. However, Liam Coen was an intriguing candidate because he turned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into an offensive juggernaut during his lone season as the offensive coordinator.
The fact that the Jags were impressed with his leadership skills and overall football knowledge only increased his appeal. If that wasn't enough, his work with quarterbacks, more recently with Baker Mayfield, made him an intriguing option to get the most out of Trevor Lawrence. However, the hire wasn't universally praised.
Coen's biggest knock was that he was a first-year head coach, and some wonder whether Jacksonville should've hired someone with more experience. The flaw with that argument is that experience for the sake of experience isn't inherently good. What's the point of bringing in a head coach who's had the job but hasn't been successful at it?
It also didn't help that Coen went viral because of his "underwhelming" Duuuval chant. But despite the scrutiny he endured, hiring him over more experienced coaches (e.g., Bill Belichick, Robert Saleh) has paid massive dividends for the Jaguars.
Liam Coen is building the foundations to help the Jaguars have sustained success
Liam Coen is the kind of no-nonsense coach that will demand the most from his players. But at the same time, he'll give them all the tools they need to put them in a position to succeed.
Throughout his brief stint in Duval, Coen hasn't been afraid to call his players out if needed, but has also given them their support if needed. Moreover, the first-year coach is quickly molding the Jaguars into a tough and resilient team. That's huge, because they have long missed an identity, and they're quickly finding one.
One proof of the team's newly gained grittiness is that they're winning close games and finding ways to overcome mistakes. The Jags under Urban Meyer, Doug Pederson (with a few exceptions), and Doug Marrone lacked that drive. That's no longer the case with Coen.
Heck, you could even make the case that without Liam Coen, the Jaguars would be in the early stages of yet another rebuild. Instead, they find themselves in the thick of the playoff race and within striking distance of the Indianapolis Colts in the race for the AFC South title late in the season.
That's a huge reason to be thankul for.