Liam Coen has gone one-and-done at every job he’s had in each of the last four years. The hope now is that the 39-year-old can lead the Jacksonville Jaguars for a bunch of wins over multiple seasons moving forward. A new era has arrived in Duval County with No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter expected to play both ways in Coen’s debut season.

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops believes that his offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2023 will win games as an NFL head coach.

“Just a guy that’s going to have a lot of success. He’s a guy that right away you know he has that personality that the players will gravitate to him,” Stoops said in an interview on Wednesday morning with ESPN Radio. “I think you’re going to love him, just the media, and just spending time with him.”

“Liam is a very good football coach. He’s a guy that, you talk about some of the change I’ve had, he’s a guy that was rough for me. I brought him in one time, we had great success, I lost him after one year, brought him back, we had success again, and lost him again. So that really bummed me out. But obviously, he went on to some great jobs, and I can’t fault him for that. Just so happy and proud of him for the jumps that he’s made.”

Under Coen’s leadership in 2021, Kentucky had a top-25 offense for the first time in the Stoops era as the Cats ranked No. 5 in success rate (51.1%), No. 15 in points per drive (2.94), and No. 21 in yards per play (6.40). The 2023 offense under Coen was not as successful but the Cats still ranked inside the top 35 of ESPN’s SP+ rankings.

In his return to the NFL, Coen helped lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to another NFC South title as Baker Mayfield had a career year (71.4% completion rate, 4,500 passing yards, 41 touchdowns, 16 interceptions) with the play-caller in 2024. Rookie tailback Bucky Irving rushed for 1,122 yards and star wideout Mike Evans had another 1,000-yard season as the Bucs finished the season No. 4 in the NFL in scoring offense. That led to Coen getting the head coaching job in Jacksonville.

Now the play-calling head coach will look to keep scoring points and winning some games in the AFC South as he begins his new journey. Mark Stoops believe that Coen will make a good head coach.

“He’s got a fun personality. I think the players are going to love him,” said Stoops. “I look forward to him having great success.”