It's been a whirlwind week for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the likes of which we hopefully won't ever see again. One thing that is certain is that we haven't seen anything like what unfolded on Thursday, as the Bucs were thrust into an unprecedented situation that feels almost too insane to be true.
Just over 24 hours after agreeing to return to Tampa Bay as one of the highest-paid coordinators in the league, Liam Coen reversed course and wound up as the Jacksonville Jaguars' new head coach. It's a job he had initially bowed out of the running for, which led to the Bucs giving him an extension to continue leading one of the league's best offenses.
It's not the fact that Coen had a change of heart; it's the way he went about it that has everyone sipping on the tea that was spilled. Rather than clue the Bucs in that he was still interested in taking the Jaguars job, Coen ghosted team officials, flew back to Jacksonville, and lied to Todd Bowles about why he had been unreachable.
Needless to say, Buccaneers fans were furious -- which is likely nothing compared to what Jason Licht is feeling -- and Coen was pretty much condemned by other football fans and insiders for his actions.
Well, almost everyone.
Mike Florio says Buccaneers 'aren't victims' and defends Liam Coen
As everything hit the fan on Thursday, ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio decided to go against the grain and stood up for Coen while taking a shot at the Buccaneers in the process. He cited the team's past decisions to change head coaches as a reason folks shouldn't feel too bad what Tampa Bay was going through.
Let’s be clear on one thing: The Bucs aren’t victims here. They have a history of abruptly changing coaches when it suits their interests. Liam Coen has every right to reverse course if he chooses.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 23, 2025
He's not entirely offbase with his assessment, even if it's a little tone deaf. Broadly speaking, teams do change coaches whenever they please and it's not always a pretty process. The Buccaneers are no strangers to that, which is likely what Florio is getting at.
Florio seems to be referencing the Bucs firing Lovie Smith back in 2015 so the team could replace him with Dirk Koetter. It was a situation not unlike one many fans were hoping to see again this year where Todd Bowles was removed so Liam Coen wouldn't get hired away by another team.
There's no defending the firing of Lovie, a move that remains one of the biggest blotches on an otherwise impressive tenure for Jason Licht. He's also not wrong in pointing out that Coen is well within his rights -- especially knowing how ruthless teams can be with the roles reversed -- to change his mind at any point in the process.
What this very conveniently and strangely overlooks is how Coen went about changing his mind. There's nothing wrong with him deciding he'd rather have the Jaguars job and anyone who says they'd pass on what Shad Khan offered him is lying. Ghosting people you've spent a year building relationships with and not being upfront is just bogus and seems like a weird thing to defend.
Coen did a lot of great things with the Bucs and his ascension to being a head coach further proves that Tampa Bay can advertise itself as a career launching pad for future candidates. The way he exited can also serve as a lesson to everyone -- regardless of the situation -- how not to communicate if you want to leave any bridges you built left intact.
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