Liam Coen is not the first former UK football assistant to later become an NFL head coach
When Mark Stoops first hired Liam Coen as his offensive coordinator in December 2020 only the most ardent of football fans had probably heard of the Wildcats’ newest coach.
Coen’s astronomical rise through the coaching ranks in the just more than four years since would have been impossible to predict then. A 10-win season at UK was followed by an unsuccessful season as the Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator. Since Coen did not call plays for the Rams — head coach Sean McVay did — he returned to UK in 2023 but failed to replicate his 2021 success with the Wildcats. Those struggles did not prevent him from landing another NFL offensive coordinator job in 2024, this time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While there were plenty of hard feelings from UK fans and administrators about Coen leaving Lexington after just one season for a second time, that move has been more than justified since. A record-breaking season with the Buccaneers led to Coen being listed as a candidate for NFL head coaching jobs this winter.
After initially pulling out of the Jacksonville Jaguars search amid reports the Buccaneers had offered him a contract extension that would have made him one of the highest paid assistants in NFL history, Coen reengaged with the Jaguars after the firing of the team’s general manager and was reportedly hired as head coach late Thursday night.
While Coen’s path to an NFL head coaching position may be unique, he is not the first UK assistant to eventually land a head coaching job in the league.
Former UK head coach Blanton Collier spent eight years as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns after he left Kentucky, winning an NFL championship in 1964. By the time he was hired as Kentucky’s head coach, Rich Brooks had already spent two seasons as head coach of the Saint Louis Rams. The list of Kentucky assistant coaches who went on to run their own NFL team includes one of the best coaches in the history of the sport, Don Shula.
Coen is the eighth coach to spend time as a UK assistant before being hired as an NFL coach. Here is a look at how the other seven fared in the NFL.
Bill Arnsparger
One of four assistants on Collier’s 1959 UK staff that was later hired as an NFL head coach, Arnsparger, a Paris native, served as UK’s defensive line coach from 1954 to 1961. After stints as an NFL assistant with the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins, the New York Giants hired Arnsparger as head coach in 1974. He won just seven of 35 games with the Giants and was fired during the 1976 season after an 0-7 start. Arnsparger later led LSU to an SEC championship.
Leeman Bennett
A Paducah native, Bennett played for Collier at UK then joined the Wildcats’ coaching staff in 1961. Bennett spent three seasons as a UK assistant, with a two-year stint in the military breaking up that tenure. College assistant jobs at Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Navy followed, before he jumped to the NFL as offensive backs coach with the Saint Louis Cardinals in 1970. He worked for the Cardinals, Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams before the Atlanta Falcons hired him as head coach in 1977. Bennett was 46-41 in six seasons as Falcons coach. He reached the playoffs three times. After the Falcons fired him in 1983, Bennett took a two-year hiatus from coaching before returning to the NFL as Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach in 1985. Bennett was just 4-28 in two seasons in Tampa.
Chuck Knox
Collier hired Knox as a UK assistant for his final season in Lexington, and Knox remained on staff for the first year of Charlie Bradshaw’s tenure. He jumped to the NFL as New York Jets offensive line coach in 1963. After stints as an assistant with the Jets and Lions, Knox was hired as Los Angeles Rams head coach in 1973. Knox would serve as an NFL head coach for 22 consecutive seasons with three different franchises (Los Angeles, Buffalo and Seattle). He reached the playoffs 11 times, finishing his career with a 186-147-1 record after a second stint with the Rams. He was fired in 1995 and replaced by Brooks.
John North
North coached on Collier’s UK staff from 1956 to 1961. Assistant jobs with LSU, the Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints followed before the Saints promoted him to head coach in 1973. North was Saints coach when the team moved into the Superdome in 1975, but that was one of the few highlights of his NFL head coaching tenure, which ended with an 11-23 record.
Howard Schnellenberger
A 1955 All-American as a player at Kentucky, Schnellenberger started his coaching career as an assistant for Collier from 1959 to 1960. After a five-season stint as offensive coordinator at Alabama, which included three national championships and the signing of legendary quarterbacks Joe Namath and Ken Stabler, Schnellenberger made the jump to the NFL. He served as an assistant for the Los Angeles Rams and Miami Dolphins before the Baltimore Colts hired him as head coach in 1973. Schnellenberger was just 4-13 before being fired by the Colts, but he went on to an illustrious college coaching career as the head coach at Miami, Louisville, Oklahoma and Florida Atlantic.
Don Shula
Of the five future NFL head coaches (including Collier) on Kentucky’s 1959 staff, Shula was the most successful. His one season in Lexington ended up being the last season in college football in what turned out to be one of the most decorated coaching careers in NFL history. In 33 seasons as a head coach with the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins, Shula won an NFL-record 347 games. He won two Super Bowls and coached the 1972 Dolphins to the only undefeated season in NFL history. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997 in his first year of eligibility.
Lovie Smith
The most recent former UK assistant to serve as an NFL head coach before Coen, Smith spent just one season as an assistant for Bill Curry at Kentucky in 1992. After assistant jobs at Tennessee and Ohio State, Smith was hired as Tampa Bay’s linebackers coach in 1996. The Chicago Bears hired him as head coach in 2004 after his successful run as Saint Louis Rams defensive coordinator. Smith was 81-62 in nine seasons in Chicago. The highlight of his run there was a trip to Super Bowl XLI, where the Bears lost to the Indianapolis Colts. Smith took a one-year coaching hiatus after being fired by the Bears before the Buccaneers hired him as head coach in 2014. He was fired after going 8-24 in two seasons there. Smith then returned to college football as head coach at Illinois, but had one more brief stint as an NFL head coach when he went 3-13-1 as Houston’s head coach in 2022.