Being the Rams’ offensive coordinator under Sean McVay has been a good launching pad.
Matt LaFleur held the position in 2017 and became the Packers’ head coach in 2019 after going to the Titans for a year to call plays. Now Kevin O’Connell has become the Vikings head coach after a two-year stint as McVay’s OC.
So now the position belongs to Liam Coen, who is returning to L.A. for his second stint with the franchise. He was previously the Rams’ assistant receivers coach in 2018-2019 and the team’s assistant QBs coach in 2020. He spent the 2021 season at Kentucky as the program’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. As detailed by Jeff Howe of TheAthletic.com, Coen had options for different positions this offseason — including the Saints, who requested to interview him to be their offensive coordinator.
But Coen told Howe that if he was going to leave Kentucky, he was only interested in getting back to the Rams.
“I’m really excited about going back and learning,” Coen said. “You don’t just learn from Sean. You learn from every single coach in the building. At any given moment, you can walk into an office and learn something. I’m really excited to go back and learn.”
Though he had left the staff, Coen continued to talk with McVay regularly during the 2021 season at Kentucky while implementing the offensive scheme. And given that Coen was on the Rams’ offensive staff before, the transition should be fairly seamless heading into 2022 as L.A. tries to defend its Super Bowl title.
And if the Rams continue to sustain success as they have since McVay arrived, it’s not much of a stretch to think Coen will be in line for an NFL head coaching job sooner than later.
