Will a Former La Salle Quarterback Beat Out Vrabel as NFL Coach of the Year?

Will a Former La Salle Quarterback Beat Out Vrabel as NFL Coach of the Year?

Rhode Island has produced head coaches for the NHL, MLB, and the NBA, but never for the NFL until this season.  When the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars, after a 4-13 season in 2024, turned the head coaching job over to Rhode Island native Liam Coen, history was made.

Coen’s selection as the Jags' head coach did not receive much attention in the rest of the NFL or even in Rhode Island.  After all, Coen had never been a head coach anywhere, and what could he do to turn around the moribund Jaguars? And many NFL insiders questioned Coen’s sanity, turning down a Tampa Bay Buccaneers offer to return as the highest-paid NFL Offensive Coordinator at $3 million a year.

High School football fans in Rhode Island might remember Coen playing for his dad, Tim Coen, at LaSalle Academy in the early 2000’s.  Liam Coen won two state titles for the Rams, in 2000 and 2001. And in his La Salle career, he put up some impressive numbers by RI high school football standards: 71% pass completion rate, 5,535 passing yards, and 66 TDs.  Coen was named the RI Gatorade Player of the Year in 2003.  He went on to play four years at UMass where his numbers were off the charts: 830 pass completions, 11,031 passing yards, and 90 TDs.

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Unfortunately, a sore elbow emerged after his UMass career, and Coen failed to receive any NFL offers. Following in his father’s footsteps, he turned to coaching.  He spent the 2010-2013 seasons at Brown and URI as a QB coach and then stints at UMass and Maine.  In 2018, he talked his way onto the Los Angeles Rams coaching staff as an Assistant Wide Receivers Coach. He alternated jobs and titles with LA and the University of Kentucky from 2018-2023, before being appointed Offensive Coordinator at Tampa Bay for the 2024 season when the Bucs went 10-7.

In short, Coen has earned his way up the NFL coaching ladder, not just with years of experience, but with his innovative offensive strategies, his game preparation, and his ability to relate to his players.  His success with the LA Rams and Tampa Bay was based on implementing strategies appropriate to the skill levels of his players.  He is deeply respected by players wherever he has coached.

Coen is finally getting the respect of NFL analysts.  While going 10-4 this season with five straight wins got people suggesting that the small-market Jacksonville team was having a “nice season,” it was the 34-20 win over Denver this past weekend that got people to finally say that Liam Coen is a helluva coach.  No one was taking Jacksonville seriously until they crushed Denver at Mile High (Denver had won 11 straight on its home field) this past weekend.

It helps that Coen has a pretty good young QB in Trevor Lawrence, but the success of the Jags is due to pass/run balance, an offense that makes few mistakes, and a team that limits stupid penalties.  Besides Lawrence, there are no all-star quality players on this team.  The Jags are just a bunch of average players, with a few really good players, who are well-coached and who devise different strategies for each opponent.  If the Jags played the Pats, New England would be favored on every betting line.

The 11-4 Jags’ remaining regular-season opponents are Indianapolis and Tennessee.  Jacksonville is likely to finish 13-4 or, worst case, 12-5.  Like New England, they have clinched a playoff spot.  The 12-3 Patriots have the NY Jets and Miami, and, unless the Pats have a train wreck in the last two games, they will likely finish 14-3.  Two AFC teams that were 4-13 last year are now headed to the NFL playoffs - the premier NFL reclamation projects of 2025.

How deep Jacksonville and New England go in the playoffs will determine whether it’s Coen or Vrabel who receives the NFL Coach of the Year award.  In any case, it’s looking like either a former La Salle QB or a former NFL Pro Bowler will win the NFL coach award this year.

 

Editor's Note: An earlier version failed to recognize Coen's state titles.