Report: Kentucky football OC Liam Coen headed back to the NFL with Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The most important offseason of Mark Stoops’ Kentucky football tenure just got a little more complicated.
For the second time, offensive coordinator Liam Coen appears to be leaving UK after just one season in the position. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are working on a deal to sign Coen, who first came to UK in 2021 and returned to the Wildcats in 2023 after one season as the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, as their offensive coordinator, according to a report from the NFL Network.
In Tampa, Coen could reunite with quarterback Baker Mayfield, who he previously coached in Los Angeles.
Now, Stoops is faced with hiring a new offensive coordinator for the fourth consecutive offseason.
This was not supposed to be the plan when Stoops fired Rich Scangarello as his offensive coordinator in 2022 and convinced Coen to return to Lexington.
After accepting UK’s offensive coordinator job for the second time, Coen told reporters he hoped to “plant some roots” by staying in a job for “a few years at least.” While Coen did not rule out one day returning to the NFL, he said the chance to work with younger players still early in their careers made a college job attractive to him.
But almost nothing about Coen’s return went according to plan.
While the offense did go from last in the SEC in points per game in 2022 to eighth in 2023, many of the offensive issues that plagued the brief Scangarello era carried over to 2023. UK averaged 8.4 more points per game than the year before but still ranked 100th nationally in yards per game (339.5). Kentucky ranked last nationally in total offensive plays.
Unlike when Coen’s UK offense eventually found its groove with transfer quarterback Will Levis at the helm in 2021, the Wildcats battled inconsistency throughout the 2023 season. This time, building around a transfer quarterback did not work as former N.C. State star Devin Leary appeared to struggle to run Coen’s pro-style scheme at times. UK’s much-hyped sophomore receivers Barion Brown and Dane Key failed to make the jump many had projected for their second college season.
After a 7-5 regular season, Kentucky fired wide receivers coach Scott Woodward, a close friend and former college teammate of Coen’s who had followed Coen to Lexington during for his first stint at UK in 2021. In January, UK fired offensive line coach Zach Yenser and replaced him with Eric Wolford, who coached the Wildcat offensive line in 2021 before leaving for a two-season stint at Alabama.
In an interview with “BBN Tonight” after the Wolford hire, Stoops made it clear that he consulted with Coen on those decisions.
“I know a lot of people want to act like we’re not, but Liam and I are 100% on the same page at all times,” Stoops told “BBN Tonight.” “Liam has complete autonomy here. I think he likes that. There’s no Mark Stoops taking off the gas or anything like that. Liam likes that. If you’re a competitive person, if you’re a good coordinator, you want full control. Liam has full control of the offense, full autonomy. When we’re doing personnel moves like this, talking with staff, I would never do something like that without consulting with him too.”
Despite the 2023 struggles, Coen and company had already found success in the transfer portal this winter.
Former five-star recruit and Georgia backup quarterback Brock Vandagriff enrolled at UK in January as the likely starter for next season. UK also added possible 2024 starters at running back (Chip Trayanum, Ohio State), wide receiver (Ja’Mori Maclin, North Texas) and right tackle (Gerald Mincey, Tennessee) from the transfer portal. Coen was also instrumental in recruiting four-star LCA quarterback Cutter Boley, who enrolled at UK earlier this month.
With Coen gone, the pressure is on Stoops to hire an offensive coordinator that will convince the Wildcats’ offensive playmakers to stay in the fold. Players yet to graduate cannot enter the transfer portal until April, but anyone who has graduated, a group that includes Vandagriff, Trayanum and Maclin, can enter the portal at any time. The fact that spring semester classes have already started might keep them in the fold through at least spring practice.
“I already knew their offense was really similar to what Georgia runs, a pro-style offense,” Vandagriff said this week when asked about Coen’s impact on his decision to transfer to UK. “You’re going to be able to go have success at the next level, which you obviously saw Levis being able to do at the end of the season. Then, just being able to talk with him and get some of the terminology down, it was unique. … Just knowing when to call it and do stuff like that is something I believe Coach Coen is really good at and I’m ready to be a part of.”
Kentucky has proven willing to pay at the top end of the offensive coordinator market.
Coen’s UK contract would have paid him $1.8 million in 2024. He was the 12th-highest paid assistant coach at a public university last season, according to a USA Today database. Coen also owes UK a $500,000 buyout for leaving with two years left on his deal.
When Coen left UK after the 2021 season, Stoops made a point to stay in the same Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan coaching tree in hiring Scangarello, but after back-to-back disappointing seasons in that system and so many new faces joining the roster Stoops will have to determine the value he places on continuity. The fact that Coen’s decision lingered into February means some coaches who might have been options for the position have already accepted new jobs.
The fact that Stoops himself appeared on the verge of leaving UK in November for Texas A&M only to announce his return after a vocal portion of Aggies fans took to social media to voice displeasure with the potential hire may have influenced Coen’s decision to renege on his initial promise to stay in Lexington for multiple years this time. Whether or not that impacts the pool of candidates for Coen’s replacement will be a storyline to watch in the search.
This story will be updated.
This story was originally published February 2, 2024 at 8:26 AM.