Holy shit. As a UMass guy myself, there’s nobody rooting harder for Liam Coen than me.
Usually when a UMass guy gets a look in the NFL, that means it’s someone like Mike Tannebaum or Chris Grier ruining an AFC East team via bad drafting/personnel moves.
Liam felt different. Just 10 years ago Coen was the pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach at his alma mater, coaching in front of the 250 people that showed up to McGuirk on those cold fall afternoons.
After Mark Whipple refused to let Coen call plays (in hindsight one of the dumbest things to happen at that University, and we’re talking about the school that kicked kids out for not wearing masks OUTDOORS during COVID) he left to go to Maine, then the Rams, then Kentucky, then back to the Rams, to Tampa, where he helped Baker and company make the playoffs this fall.
When the Bucs got word Coen might go to Jacksonville, they made him an offer that would pay him as the highest paid coordinator in the league. After just one season! That, and how mad the Bucs organization seems after him leaving, tells you all you need to know about the quality of mind Coen possesses.
I was feeling good about his chances in Jacksonville… until this came out. My god is this bad. Press conferences, especially new coach press conferences, are typically some of the most useless exercises around. Wait, you want to build a tough, smart and fast team? I was actually hoping we were going to build the slow, wimpy and stupid team!
While dumb, they can give you moments like this that offer something into the personality of the guy calling the shots. Joe Judge talked about how he was going to bring the city of New York’s mentality to the football team. Wouldn’t you know it he was run out of town two years later for being a hardo.
This is just an all time bad clip for Coen. Zero charisma. Zero personality. Zero laugh after. It sounds like he’s in a hostage video with Shad and Tony Khan pointing a gun at him telling him to do the stupid “Duval” thing.
Here’s to hoping my fellow Minuteman can figure it out. After this clip, it looks like it’ll be another in a long list of bad hires for Jacksonville.
Wicked Smart Sports 