What is there to say about Liam Coen and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that hasn't already been said? He burned the team in the 11th hour after having already committed to returning on a deal that would have made him the highest-paid coordinator in NFL history.
The fact that he chose another job over coming back to the Bucs isn't the thing that caused a stir; it's how he went about it. Coen having a change of heart -- one that led to a head coaching job, no less -- is understandable, but ghosting his former colleagues in Tampa to go behind their backs is juvenile at best.
It was a stunning way for his time with the team to end, as up until that point he was a golden child that a growing number of fans wanted to see replace Todd Bowles as head coach. He had turned the Bucs' offense into one the best units in the league, fixed the run game, and helped further Baker Mayfield's development as a franchise quarterback.
All of that is now tainted with how he decided to go about leaving, but it turns out we should have seen it coming a mile away.
Liam Coen has a history of going back on commitments he makes to teams
Coen returned to Kentucky in 2023 after bouncing between the Rams and Wildcats over the previous two seasons. At the time he made a big deal about his commitment to the program and how he wasn't in any rush to leave.
It's a promise he broke less than a year later when he bolted to Tampa Bay to become the Buccaneers' offensive coordinator.
"I just want to go somewhere, make a real impact and plant some roots for a little bit. Be somewhere for a few years — at least — that you feel really good about," Coen said, at the time. "I'm excited about being back in Lexington ... there's a lot about the SEC and college football that I missed, and I'm not in a rush to go anywhere."
This rings just as hollow as the assurance and commitment he gave the Buccaneers after agreeing to sign a contract to remain in Tampa Bay. His job history is riddled with short stints but he showed his hand over a year ago as far as the most likely way the saga with the Jaguars job would play out.
Nothing about that really changes anything, but should at least make Bucs fans feel a little better that the way things went down wasn't totally personal. It just turns out that Liam Coen is as elite at going back on commitments as he is at running an offense.
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