While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers spring off a Week 18 win and into a week of prep to take on the Washington Commanders in the Wild Card, most teams around the league are sifting through the wreckage of their season. It’s a dark day known as Black Monday, when struggling teams make the decision to move on their their head coache in an effort to right hte ship.
Thankfully the Bucs haven’t been involved in Black Monday for almost a decade, which is incredible to think about. Tampa Bay hasn’t fired a head coach since Dirk Koetter back in 2018, a move that brought Bruce Arians to town and the team hasn’t looked back since.
Some fans thought the Bucs would be in the market for a new head coach this offseason had things continued to spiral out of control for Todd Bowles, but thankfully that won’t be the case. Tampa Bay clinched the No. 3 seed on Sunday and have a clear path to the Super Bowl, although it’s unlikely that the conversation will go away.
The reason fans have been extra harsh toward Bowles is because of Liam Coen and the job he’s done transforming the offense. The Bucs have one of the best offenses in the league, and Coen has managed to not only fix the team’s run game but turn it into a top unit.
His success has made him a top coaching candidate to get poached, not unlike what happened with Dave Canales last year. The logic is that if Canales didn’t do as great of a job as Coen did but he still got a coaching job, what’s to stop him from leaving?
That’s why even though the Bucs aren’t looking for a coach on Black Monday, they still have a reason to pay close attention to what’s happening.
Every head coach opening that Liam Coen could leave the Buccaneers for
Note: This will be updated as teams fire their head coaches or hire new ones and fill potential landing spots.
Team | Fired Head Coach | New Head Coach |
|---|---|---|
Chicago Bears | Matt Eberflus | |
Jacksonville Jaguars | Doug Pederson | |
New England Patriots | Jerrod Mayo | |
New Orleans Saints | Dennis Allen | |
New York Jets | Robert Saleh |
The good news is that while Coen is getting a ton of hype, the number of openings don’t totally line up with an ideal situation for him to leave. Ben Johnson remains the hottest name on the coaching market while Aaron Glenn’s stock is soaring as the Lions defense continues to impress.
Johnson has been linked to the Bears pretty heavily throughout the year, while Glenn has emerged as a potential front runner for the New Orleans Saints job. Matt Nagy and Mike McCarthy were also named as potential fits for the Saints, but Coen going to a division rival seems unlikely given the gnarly cap situation and uncertain future there.
That takes two teams of the board, and a third can likely be removed in the New England Patriots. It’s widely believed that former player and coach Mike Vrabel will return home and take over, a move that makes sense on just about every single level for everyone involved.
It’s not a certainty, though, and could be a job to keep an eye on for Coen. The Patriots jo would be a homecoming of sorts for him, as Coen is from Rhode Island and one of his first coaching jobs was a UMass. There’s no tangible connection to the Patriots, but Robert Kraft could call his old friend Jason Licht to see if there’s a pipeline to connect.
The Jets are an option too but there’s serious uncertainty there and it’s hardly an attractive gig for Coen to leave for. The same goes for the Jaguars, which cold have been a dark horse landing spot if the team had fired general manager Trent Baalke, which it didn’t and now complicates their search.
Jordan Schultz reported that Baalke remaining in Jacksonville will make it hard for the team to attract a top coaching candidate, which Coen is. Even if the Jaguars are interested, it’s not a better situation than where Coen is now in Tampa Bay.
That’s what this all comes down to, and is why Bucs fans shouldn’t panic too much about losing Coen it’s offseason. He’s eventually going to get a head coaching job, but even he’s said that there’s no reason to rush into it. All along the likeliest outcome to this is adjacent to what Ben Johnson did last season. He waited, increased his stock, and is an even bigger candidate this year than he was last offseason.
There’s also a scenario where the Bucs promote Coen to head coach in Tampa Bay. If Todd Bowles retires next season, then Jason Licht has the easiest decision in the world to hand the keys to Coen. Not only would it satiate the rabid portion of the fan base foaming at the mouth for that exact situation, but it wold continue an internal passing of the torch and further highlight how well-run the organization is.
A lot can happen, but it’s starting to look like the fears of losing Liam Coen this offseason are a little overblown.
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