As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers barrel toward a playoff spot and a fourth straight NFC South title, Liam Coen's name continues to pop up as a potential head coaching candidate. There's still a ton of football left to be played, but it hasn't taken much squinting to see past what lies ahead and to questions about what the future might hold.
Coen is a hot name in the rumor mill, and his stock has only gone up over recent weeks as the Bucs' offense soars. Putting up 40-points on the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFL only solidified interest in him, and a playoff run will only shine more of the spotlight on him and what he's done.
It's been a truly miraculous season of success. Coen came in and took the bones of what Dave Canales set in place and built one of the best offenses in the league. Tampa Bay's rushing game went from dead last in the NFL to a top unit with one of the most exciting rookies helping power the way. Baker Mayfield's $100 million contract looks like a bargain as he puts up MVP numbers, and everything is clicking in ways we haven't seen in years.
The logic lines up in terms of Coen being a one-and-done coordinator in Tampa Bay. Canales didn't do nearly as much as Coen has but he landed a head coaching job after just one season -- albeit one that came as a total shock.
Coen's name is in the news cycle daily when it comes to filling head coaching vacancies with the Bears, Jets, and whoever might follow in firing their coach. It's to the point where the man himself can no longer ignore what's going on.
Liam Coen bluntly addresses all of the head coaching rumors
While speaking with the media on Thursday, Coen gave a pretty blunt and honest answer when asked about all of the head coaching rumors surrounding him.
"There's just no time to even truly think about these things," Coen said. "Is that a goal? Is that a dream? Yeah, but that's not at all what's on my mind right now."
As far as whether he sees a future in Tampa Bay, Coen said that it's "absolutely a place that you want to be", which is going to both calm some folks down while riling up the idea that the Bucs need to do anything they can to keep him. Right now the popular take is to have Coen replace Todd Bowles as head coach, but this is a path the Bucs have gone down before without any sort of success.
A key difference is how much further along Coen's offense is than things were under Koetter, but it's hard not to see similarities. It's undoubtedly something the Glazer's are going to consider if things get that far down the road, but it's far more likely that they'll open up the checkbook to keep Coen around rather than moving around coaching pieces.
Coen could bolt for a head coaching job, but money talks and making him the highest paid coordinator in the NFL would be a gesture that buys everyone time. In this scenario, Coen stays and the Bucs have a succession plan in place if things end up going south with Bowles in 2025.
That's focusing on the negative side of things, though. Let's assume some positivity and say things go well again for the Bucs in 2025; the succession plan could be centered on Bowles retiring and handing the keys to Coen as Bruce Arians did back in 2022.
Of course, this is largely prisoner of the moment stuff. Coen is right to try and refocus everyone on the task at hand, which is winning a Super Bowl. We'll cross the coaching bridge when we get there, but for now it's in everyone's best interest to keep things moving in the direction they've been going.
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