Playing with the older boys By the time he was just three years old, he started his voyage in the sport of football. He illustrated an incredible talent for immediately stacking players into a wishbone formation! This rare gift of strategic prescience would mark a life to come spent in great military strategy and exemplar leadership.
Coen’s first encounter with the NFL was unofficial, occurring during a three-day visit to the Cleveland Browns facility arranged by Mark Whipple, who has been a significant figure in Coen’s development. Throughout the intervening years, Coen kept in close contact with Whipple. He kept in touch, wanting to come back, wanting to go deeper into the Browns’ facility and life behind the scenes in the NFL.
In 2010, Coen made his foray into coaching as in the college coaching world becoming the quarterbacks coach at Brown University. His real change in role would come in 2011 when he assumed the position of passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Rhode Island. He would come back to Brown for a last run in 2012-2013, refining his style and reputation as a top-flight coach in the process.
Whipple recognized Coen’s potential and hired him as the pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the University of Massachusetts (UMass) in 2014. Whipple had great things to say about Coen’s masterful quarterback room handling. Just the way he managed the quarterback room was phenomenal. I certainly didn’t go in there and teach or coach. I was the one calling the plays. He deftly handled that transition and coached quarterback Blake Frohnapfel up on the offense, performing a near-masterpiece of a job along the way.
Coen’s career took off when he made the switch to the Los Angeles Rams. On the field, he flourished with head coach Sean McVay leading the ship. Coen called this experience “my Ph.D. in coaching.” He stressed the breadth of knowledge he learned over that time. He of course very successfully filled the vast shoes left by Kevin O’Connell as the Rams’ offensive coordinator. It was in this new role that he honed his strategic skills even more.
In 2022, Coen stepped out on a limb. He departed the Rams to assume playcalling responsibilities at the University of Kentucky. This move reinforces Fisher’s development as a head coach. It did pay off in the long run, as it got him recently hired as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Coen’s priorities for the Jaguars include implementing an efficient offensive strategy, enhancing the run game, and improving quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s performance to new heights. His vision is to get the right mix on offense, but more importantly build a great relationship with the players.
Reflecting on the importance of interpersonal relationships within a team, Coen remarked, “You just look at connection, and nowadays connection is so hard to actually create because so much of our lives are on a phone.” What was talked about, but not written about as much, was his focus on creating honest relationships between teammates being the key to chemistry. “Just having interpersonal conversations and just the old fist bump, the high-five, the chest bump — that helps bring people together,” he stated.
“In many ways, Coen’s greater ambition is to foster a mood that feels like the childhood joy and jubilation that should permeate sports. ‘Like as a kid when you were taught to celebrate. What did that look like? That’s what we’re ultimately trying to get to, is bringing the team together,’ he explained.”
Players have started to notice Coen’s influence already. Baker Mayfield praised Coen’s teaching methods, saying, “Liam taught the game of football to all of our offensive guys and he helped me out tremendously with pre-snap adjustments and being able to eliminate and process information quickly.” Mayfield added that he feels Coen is well-prepared to help develop Lawrence, both on and off the field.
Lawrence himself has even sung the praises of Coen’s explosive offensive scheme. “I really like [that the offense] has a lot of answers,” he said. He likes that it empowers players by giving them greater clarity in chaotic situations. “It’s great. I just … I don’t know, I mean, it really puts so much on the players. It really is a daunting program—you’ve got to be on your game—but it literally hands you every answer,” Lawrence said. He considers Coen’s approach “definitely unlike any system that I’ve learned before.”
Coen’s long coaching path has made him a strategic mind. From a wide-eyed football prodigy to a player now poised to face greater challenges within the NFL, he’s come a long way. Tom is a passionate advocate for collaboration and performance excellence. His commitment to cultivating young talent makes him a perfect fit for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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