Following a disappointing end to the 2024 season, the Jacksonville Jaguars dismissed head coach Doug Pederson. They ran an extensive search to find his replacement and ended up choosing Liam Coen. The hiring earned mixed reviews, but he proved during a recent exchange with the local media that the Jags got the right guy for the job.
Coen met with the local media during the voluntary offseason workouts and said that the team is focused on the fundamentals of the scheme and the culture.
"We're trying to establish really two things: The fundamentals and techniques of the schemes, right?" Coen responded when asked what he plans to accomplish the next few weeks. "We're not truly diving into the scheme at the moment, fundamentals and technique and then, as well, our culture, the way that we're going to play the game, our style of play."
Coen continued, "Those are the two things that we'd like to be able to get out of this, especially in phase one, where you're not on the grass with the players, we're really installing our basic core fundamentals and principles and techniques, and then also the culture, our style of play and our commitments as well."
Later in the exchange, Coen was asked how he plans to build the culture and instill toughness. He said they don't have to take the field to do so.
"Now we actually had that conversation today with the players. I know that this is not a physical time. It can't be, and it isn't, but the establishing of the mindset, the way that we're going to do things, the way that we want to the meetings. Like coach [Anthony] Camp brought up today, our meeting should be tough, right? We're learning new information. It's all very new for everybody. That's hard. It's hard to do for a coach, for a player; it's hard to learn," Coen said.
"So when you do hard things and you come out on the other end, usually you say, Well, I got tougher from that. So we do believe that we can start to establish that. That was similar in Tampa last year, when we got to the offseason program and got into it, you could start to see the toughness come out, and the way that we broke the huddle, the way that we communicated, the way that we actually ran off the ball. You could see some of that stuff come to life."
Phase 1 of the offseason is limited to strength and conditioning, meetings, and rehab for players who are coming back to histories. On-field work isn't allowed, so Coen needs to look for ways to get his message across.
By setting the tone in meetings, players won't be surprised when practices get tough. Below is Coen's full press conference. His remarks about building the culture and setting the tone start right away.
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Lian Coen has a vision for the Jaguars and is implementing it
When the Jacksonville Jaguars hired Liam Coen, it seemed like they settled on him after losing out on Ben Johnson, the crown jewel of the last hiring cycle. After all, he was the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers one season. This raised doubts about his viability as a head coach. Couple that with his odd Duval chant during his introductory press conference, and some observers weren't impressed.
Having said that, Coen has a vision and was able to share it with the local press during his latest availability session. He knows that the Jags lacked toughness last year and has a plan to turn things around. Of course, he cannot do it alone, so he brought in the right coaches to help him: Grant Udinski on offense and Anthony Campanile on defense.
It's also worth noting that the Jaguars didn't just pull Coen's name from a hat. He got their attention because he helped Baker Mayfield post career numbers in 2025 and turned the Buccaneers' running game into one of the best in the NFL after being the worst the year prior.
Ultimately, Coen's on-field acumen has never been in question. With his comments about setting the tone in offseason workouts, he's proving that the Jaguars got the right guy for the job.