The Jacksonville Jaguars enjoyed several bright moments during the Doug Pederson era. Beating the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2022 playoffs was arguably the best of the bunch. On the other hand, they experienced several lows, which is why the Jags moved on from Pederson after 2024. To replace him, they hired Liam Coen.
And while it's too early to tell how Coen's stint ultimately will play out, he most definitely has Jacksonville trending in the right direction. Already, the team has shown a physicality and grit it lacked with previous head coaches.
On top of that, Coen has brought an element of accountability with him. Players are noticing and are thrilled to see their head coach accept responsibility.
Brenton Strange likes the accountability Liam Coen brings to the Jaguars
The crew of Action Sports Jax showed tight end Brenton Strange a clip of Liam Coen listening to feedback from Etienne, who told the coach that he needed to get back to running the football.
"We're good at mid zone, so we should just run it and say, stop us. So that's what we leaned on more in the second half, which helped us," Coen said on the clip. "So yeah, I was with ETN a little bit and literally just said to me as we were walking in the dining hall was I was just expressing frustration in myself getting away from a few things that we do well, which they also gave us some unscouted looks and played more bare fronts and five down fronts. But it's like, we're good at this, so let's do what we're good at."
Strange was then asked to share his thoughts on Coen taking accountability for his game plan. Here's what the former Penn State Nittany Lion had to say.
" I mean, when the head man does it, it means everything, it makes me want to be more accountable to myself and be more accountable to my teammates, and want to be better. And, you know, kind of really play harder for my coach. So when a coach can admit he's wrong, I feel like that's a big thing. Because some coaches, they don't. That's just how it is. They don't admit that they're wrong. And the fact that our head man does it is a great thing for us," Strange said.
Below is the clip where you can see the whole exchange:
"When the head man does it, it means everything. It makes me want to be more accountable to myself and more accountable to my teammates..."
— BrentDanStuartMarcelAlivia (@ActionSportsJax) September 25, 2025
On Monday we asked @BrentonStrange about HC Liam Coen taking accountability and what it means to him as a player. #jaguars #duuuval #asjax pic.twitter.com/bOq4WSB727
Liam Coen is listening to his players unlike past Jaguars head coach
Urban Meyer was full of himself. When he was hired in 2021, he said he was going to give players everything they needed to succeed. That was a great plan in theory, but it failed in practice, as he wasn't overly interested in helping players out. As former Jaguars wide receiver DJ Chark Jr. noted, he doesn't know a single player who got better because of Meyer.
"He told us from day one that he was going to maximize our value," Chark told The Athletic. "And I truly can't tell you one player that maximized their value on the Jags this year."
Meanwhile Coen will push players but will try to get the most out of them. For instance, he's keeping the right balance when it comes to pushing but also helping Brian Thomas Jr., who's had a rough start to 2025.
On the other hand, Doug Pederson helped the Jaguars recover from the Meyer era but eventually stopped becoming actively engaged. Not surprisingly, he got poor grades for his interactions with players in his last season at the helm.
Coen, however, has quickly become known for how receptive he is towards players. Couple that with his on-field intensity, and it's easy to see why the Jaguars are trending in the right direction.