Liam Coen Explains Why He Left Tampa
About five weeks after I sent my thoughts about former Buccaneers Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen into the Twittersphere, I had the chance to ask him to his face a bunch of questions that were on my mind about his surprising departure from Tampa after agreeing to become the highest paid Coordinator in the NFL.
I had to admit, my feelings were hurt when he left. I was a certified Coen-head. I watched his pressers every week and I loved how he reinvigorated our running game which went from 31st in the NFL in 2023 to 4th in 2024.
The story goes that Coen was asked by GM Jason Licht what it would take for him to return to the Bucs and Coen gave him a number. Licht got it done and gave him the money he wanted the next day. Afterwards, Coen wanted a bit higher of a figure. Licht and co. said that the number was the number and they couldn't do more.
A stipulation with the deal was that Coen wouldn't be able to interview for other Head Coaching jobs. The deal was verbally agreed to and Coen declined his 2nd interview with the Jaguars.
Then the team was unable to reach Coen who put off signing his deal til the next morning. That's when the alerts went off and wheels were put in motion for him to become the next Head Coach of the Jaguars. What happened in the hours and days prior?
"A material change" Coen said. What that meant was that Jaguars GM Trent Baalke was let go. Coen had the opportunity to become one of 32 NFL Head Coaches while getting generational wealth in the deal and getting to pick his own GM. The money was almost $10 million dollars/year more. It's hard for me, or anybody else to argue with the decision he made.
After meeting with him and talking to him on Pardon My Take, and hearing Bucs GM Jason Licht say at the Combine that "time heals" and they've all moved past it. I decided to loosen the grip on my fandom and be happy for the guy. It's hard to fault him. Do I wish he went about it differently? Certainly. But I also understand he had the opportunity to fulfill his lifelong dream of being an NFL Head Coach and I can't fault him for what he did to get to the top.
Catch the full Pardon My Take here:
