Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen will return to the team for a second season, a league source confirmed, taking himself out of contention for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ head-coaching vacancy.
Coen, 39, will receive a new contract that puts him among the highest-paid offensive coordinators in the league, the source confirmed. He interviewed for the Jaguars job last week and was expected to have a second-round interview in person this week, but canceled. Instead, he’ll return to Tampa Bay after a successful season as the offensive coordinator and play caller under coach Todd Bowles.
Coen will likely be among the top head-coaching candidates in the 2026 cycle.
His stock rose this season after he directed a Tampa Bay offense that ranked third in total offense, second in passing offense and fourth in rushing offense and points per game. The team’s 502 points marked just the second time in franchise history that Tampa Bay totaled over 500 points and was just nine points shy of matching the franchise-best mark of 511 points in 2021. Tampa Bay won six of its final seven games to win the NFC South for a fourth straight year and reached the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season.
Under Coen’s tutelage, quarterback Baker Mayfield enjoyed a career year — posting career highs in completion percentage (71.4), passing touchdowns (41), pass attempts (570), passing success rate (53.9) and quarterback rating (106.8).
Coen was one of three candidates the Jaguars had tabbed for second-round interviews this week. Jacksonville is also expected to interview former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh and Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.
Prior to coming to Tampa Bay, Coen worked two separate stints under Sean McVay with the Los Angeles Rams and spent a decade in college football. He joined the Rams staff in 2018 and spent two years as an assistant wide receivers coach before one season as the assistant quarterbacks coach (2020). Coen returned to the Rams in 2022 as the team’s offensive coordinator after Kevin O’Connell took the head coach position with the Minnesota Vikings.
Following one season as the Rams OC — where he did not call the plays — Coen returned to the college ranks. Sandwiched around his stints with the Rams, Coen had two separate one-year stints — 2021 and 2023 — as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Kentucky. In 2021, Coen was a key factor in the Wildcats notching 10 wins (which were later vacated due to NCAA penalties) and a bowl victory in the Citrus Bowl over the University of Iowa.
During his first stint at Kentucky, Coen helped develop quarterback Will Levis, who went on to become a second-round pick in 2023 by the Tennessee Titans. Devin Leary, who was Coen’s QB in 2023, was drafted in the sixth round by the Baltimore Ravens in 2024.
Coen’s college career began at a number of schools in the New England area. The Rhode Island native had two stints at Brown University (2010, 2012-13) as the quarterbacks coach, coached at the University of Rhode Island (2011) and the University of Massachusetts (2014-15) as the pass game coordinator/quarterbacks coach. He was also the offensive coordinator for two seasons (2016-17) at the University of Maine.
Coen played football at the University of Massachusetts and holds the program records for completions (830), attempts (1,302), completion percentage (63.7), passing yards (11,031), yards per attempt (8.5), passing touchdowns (90), and passer rating (150.7). He was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2022.
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