The Liam Coen Lusting And Misdirection
October 5th, 2026
Baker Mayfield, Jags coach Liam Coen and Todd Bowles hanging out in August.
Over and over Joe hears fans moaning about how the Bucs organization should have hired Liam Coen as head coach after the 2024 season and lived happily ever after for many years to come.
Joe is all on board with blasting the Bucs for retaining Todd Bowles after the 2025 collapse, among other decisions. But the ire about not keeping Coen is not a place Joe can go. It was never realistic.
Coen was the Bucs’ highly successful playcaller in ’24. After the Bucs lost at home in the wild card round of the January 2025 playoffs following a 10-7 season, Coen agreed to extend his contract with the Bucs. But it all blew up when Coen (aka El Serpiente) sprinted to Jacksonsville for their head coaching job, which came with a fat bag and a load of organizational power.
Bucs fans rip the team for not firing Bowles then and for not making Coen their head coach.
Joe gets the rage and the fantasy, but it’s misplaced.
The Bucs were never going to fire Bowles during a playoff run, risking dividing and distracting the team as it entered the playoffs. So, the Bucs would have had to fire Bowles after losing to Washington and immediately tell Coen they wanted him as head coach while simultaneously advising him he’d have to hang out quietly while Rooney Rule interviews were conducted.
Meanwhile, if the Bucs went that route, they would have had to gamble on Coen not be courted by other teams and that the Bucs wouldn’t be outbid.
There is no salary cap for coaches. And, as reality showed, Coen was pursued with big money and personnel power, the latter which may not have been given to Coen in Tampa.
As the Bucs sit in the NFL toilet without a courtesy flush for fans, there’s plenty of fair criticism for the power players at One Buc Palace. Coen isn’t on Joe’s list of crimes against the franchise.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:17 am
Of course it was realistic!
It was the best option!
Owners and yes man GM
BLEW IT !
&
The fans knew it!
The record proves it!
October 5th, 2026 at 10:18 am
Agreed with all of this. On top of that, the team already tried this with Dirk Koetter and ultimately he was as bad as Lovie Smith. There’s no certainty Liam Coen would have done better here.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:18 am
Thank you for writing this. Nothing more annoying or uneducated than fans the past couple of years complaining about this. Zero precident, zero chance it would ever happen.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:19 am
Wouldâve, couldâve, and absolutely shouldâve. Iâd rather take a shot at Coen after 2024 than run it back with this HC. His scheme sucks, the team is playing bad football. Iâd rather roll the dice for a home run potentially the. Just have a singles hitter.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:20 am
Thank Mr. Arians for keeping Coach Bowles.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:25 am
My problem with this analysis is this… TODD OWLES NEVER PROVED AT ANY LEVEL THAT HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY SUCCESS… PERIOD. He was forced on this organization by Bruce Arians. The thing that was used to prove his worth as a coach… his DEFENSIVE GENIUS.. had just been exposed during the playoff loss to the RAMS in which his inexplicable decision to zero blitz Stafford and leaving Cooper Kupp one on one after he burned us constantly during that game. Bowles then went on to hang the greatest QB the league has ever seen with his only losing season. His “Playoff run” was built on the fact that he was the least putrid of the worst division in football. The Glazers have been desperately loyal to a coach when they had not shown it before to many more successful coaches. The fans of this team are always going to be looking at the team just up the road and comparing thier success to our failures.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:29 am
Sorry, Joe, I beg to differ. A core responsibility of senior management is to identify and properly reward contributions. Licht and the Glazers have misjudged whatâs actually driven their success and how to build on it. From Coen to Evans.
Now they must live with the consequences, but an article Iâd love to see from you is whatâs the bottom line difference between success and failure given how the league shares revenues?
A winning franchise should be worth billions more, but what do the Glazers really care about? It doesnât seem to be the community â and the long-suffering fan base likely wonât see a winner soon.
The odds of winning a Super Bowl are low, so my guess is it suffices to sell the perception of hope for each season. They did a fine job of this entering the season, but Jason âI really like this 0-4 teamâ Licht might have drunk the kool aid, giving contracts that could burden the team with mediocrity for years to come.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:29 am
Joe I think you know a lot about football but it seems like the business side you are a little lacking
October 5th, 2026 at 10:30 am
Bowles is a way better coach than Coen. We fans have seen the proof.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:31 am
weâve got 2027 and 2028 with Bowles Licht and Mayfield – thatâs it – get used to crap football – pathetic
October 5th, 2026 at 10:31 am
– So, the Bucs would have had to fire Bowles after losing to Washington and immediately tell Coen they wanted him as head coach while simultaneously advising him heâd have to hang out quietly while Rooney Rule interviews were conducted.
Uh….Buffalo did and they were deep in the playoffs last year! We have a loser and yet we still retained him for absolutely no reason. Licht begged the Glazers to extend Bowles because he knew his job depended on it
Its realistic if your owners truly care about winning, but its quite obvious the Glazer kids could care less. Malcolm is rolling over in his grave as he did truly care
October 5th, 2026 at 10:31 am
I can generally agree with this stance. The piece that makes ZERO sense to me is why the Glazers (and Jason), thought not firing Bowels at the end of last season was the right move. In the videos posted of the Glazers online they seem like mentally competent individuals. But what signs were they given with Bowels first 3 seasons in charge (and his time with the Jets), that the Bucs werenât on a downward spiral?
We blew up mid season multiple times, and the end of last year was an absolute collapse. It was apparent the team had no fire, and Bowels isnât a coach to bring the fire. Did they lose 30 IQ points while thinking about what this season was going to look like? It seems absolutely delusional or moronically unintelligent to think he was going to magically right the ship given his below average coaching results. It doesnât make any sense.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:35 am
Exactly Joe, I always think this when this guys act like the good season we had did not exist⌠Strike 1, Strike 2 now is Todd Monken. Come on now, Hindsight is 20/20. And NEWSFLASH OUR TEAM IS NOT AS GOOD AS THE JAGUARS, we have the Headless horseman Mayfield at the helm. Mr. Grab the ball and start running immediately. The rookie had more composure than him. Itâs just facts. Bowles needs to go, but we also have to be real. This roster is not very good, and not a single coach could save this sinking ship.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:39 am
Joe, the point is that most people people besides members of the Bowles family and homers like Rick Stroud and formerly TJ Rives think that Todd Bowles should have been fired by last January (I think he should have got launched after code zero blitz vs the Rams, costing the Bucs a chance at back to back Super Bowls). Whether it was after the upset in the playoffs to DC to end the 2024 season or after Bowles lost the team in 2025 is irrelevant. Todd Bowles should not be coach today. Shame on the Glazers for being cheap and keeping Todd, it is like the 80’s all over again in creamsicle. Fire Todd.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:40 am
I can’t agree with this analysis. Todd Bowles have never proven anywhere that he is responsible for success. His disastrous stent in NY was clue # 1. Arians forced the Glazers to accept touting that he was a Defensive Genius. The only problem with that is he had just been exposed as a fraud when he dialed up a Zero Blitz against Stafford in the Rams playoff game and left Kupp wide open after he had burned us all day long. He then in his first year as HC led a team that hung the greatest QB in NFL history with his only losing season. His “Playoff run” was built on being least ugly team in the NFLs worst division. The Glazers have inexplicably shown loyalty to a coach whose records has gotten other talented Buc HCs the boot. This fans have every right to question why they are still employing Bowles when they have to see the success of the team up the road and know that coach was in our building.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:43 am
HINDSIGHT IS SO DARN 20/20
October 5th, 2026 at 10:44 am
Joe says this,”There is no salary cap for coaches. And, as reality showed, Coen was pursued with big money and personnel power, the latter which may not have been given to Coen in Tampa.”
You get what you pay for.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:44 am
Do the glazers own the team? Yes.
Do the owners of the team make those decisions? Yes.
Have they actually done this before? Yes.
Have any teams recently done this? Yes, last year in Buffalo.
Bowles was a third-year head coach with a 10-7 record. That was no comparison to the situation in Buffalo, which was far more comparable to the Glazer firing on Tony Dungy 25 years ago. –Joe
Does anyone remember the â24 season? We started well and then Todd had his normal 4 game losing streak and needed a cup cake schedule down the stretch to win the horrible nfc south on the last day of the season. You including when the Bucs beat the snot out of an 11-6 Chargers team on the road in December? –Joe To top it off we didnât force the skins to punt once with a rookie qb. The season wasnât some bastion of excellence.
Of course there are logistical hurdles to all coaching searchâs. But you can find plenty of examples of teams knowing exactly who they want to hire and having to navigate those issues.
Bottom line is there were only two reasons why they didnât: 1) the glazers didnât realize what they had in house or 2) they did and let the potential backlash of optics deter them from doing what was necessary.
I hope it was #2. Because if itâs #1 Iâm not looking fwd to the search this January.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:45 am
Fair points, Joe. I find Corn to be a little it weird to be honest. He has done a good job in JaxâŚno denying that.
Tired Todd Bowles is by most accounts a good guyâŚbut a self-sabotaging stubborn one at that.
Itâs been said countless timesâŚbut when he donned an ill fitting suit ( or perhaps it was done virtually ) to interview with the Falcones prior to the 2021 Divisional playoff game vs The Rams instead of focusing on the game planâŚit probably should have excluded him from any HC opportunityâŚespecially with The Bucs. That team was better than the 2020 Championship versionâŚand that should have been Super Bowl # 3. Those opportunities are so incredibly rareâŚ
October 5th, 2026 at 10:45 am
Bowles has never had a legit playoff run. Its always been smoke and mirrors hiding behind a terrible division. His teams have never been able to beat good teams. His 1 playoff win was against a terrible terrible Eagles team. Glazers should of had the intelligence to see through the mirage and do the right thing. And now hear we are… 4 game losing streaks seem to be the Bowles way.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:46 am
there is no guarantee the Glazers will fire this loser now
October 5th, 2026 at 10:47 am
Please sell the team !
Please!
October 5th, 2026 at 10:47 am
I’m with Dr and Billy Bob.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:47 am
Of course we all want Coen right now. Coen, Canales, Monken, etc. Definitely didnt expect them to fire bowles and promote Coen either tho at that point. They should have done it a year or two earlier, whatever it was. He had a losing record with the best QB to ever play. Despicable
This firing is many years too late. Laughable at this point
October 5th, 2026 at 10:48 am
Hmmm, someone should write a song with the words
‘But that was yesterday, and yesterday’s gone’.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:49 am
âThere is no guarantee the Glazers will fire this loser nowâ – youâre right but I hope they realize they are losing fans by the day. All those fair weather Brady fans are in a single file line out the door, and the longer the Glazers wait, the more of them are out the door. Nobody wants to watch this nonsense.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:52 am
Excuses for the biggest mistake Bucs management/ownership has ever made regarding Coen. To rub salt into the wounded fans last nights offensive show by the Panthers and Canales motivational skills to get Carolina fired up high for the Sunday Night showdown vs a good Lions team. When was the last time a Buc team under Bowles went into a Monday Night game fired up. To put it bluntly, this team on its home field loses more than it wins. It is a complete let down to its fans. Bryce Young, who many have written off and Tyler Slough of the Saints are now solid QB’s while the Bucs are stuck with a middle of the road, often injured Baker Mayfield. Yes 2 Buc coaches left the building and have built powerful offenses while Tampa is stuck with the obsolete Bowles and an offense that has its feet stuck in cement with receivers that are running routes to nowhere. Panthers with those crossing routes that Coen had Godwin running are very efficient and put up over 30 points. Bucs struggle to get to 17. It certainly is about leadership in the NFL and having great position coaches. You can have talent, all these teams do but if the players are only going throught the motions like these Bucs are doing without any accountability to their coaches, this is what you get. This team will be swept by the Saints and the Panthers this year. Both have offenses and Bucs have a field goal kicker.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:52 am
That’s a ridiculous take. A huge portion of fans(including me) wanted Coen at the time. It was clear the thing holding the Bucs back was and still is Bowles. Coen would have stayed and been the head coach.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:54 am
The Coen Conundrum was more that fans saw how good Coen was and now see how he has done an amazing job since being HC of Jacksonville. I 100% agree that Coen was never going to be HC of the Bucs by Bowles being fired with a 10-7 season and playoff berth. Unless Bowles chose to leave it was never happening. However, Coen has now taken a 4-13 Jags in 2024 to 13-4 in 2025 and in 2026 they are 1st in their division with 3-1 wins. A good HC makes a massive difference and Bowles is a bad HC. For me a comparison of Coenâs success isnât âlustingâ after him but he is an excellent example of what a good HC can do for a team with talent that is losing. What makes him a better example of what a good HC can do is he was our OC and we have fallen FAR from what he was able to do with the talent we still have.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:56 am
Buffalo did it. We should’ve done it.
October 5th, 2026 at 10:57 am
Cool story. Now do one on Bruce Arians. I blame Bruce!! He played a very large roll in all of this.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:00 am
They dilly dallied around with even getting an extension done for COEN and let KHAN slide in with a better offer. Thats on the glazer children and jason lite…
When COEN got baker to over achieve with 4500 passing yards and 41 TDs and bucky the rookie to +1000 yards they should have been kissing his @ss to stay as OC or whatever they need to do with a bigger bag of money and a promise he would be next HC.
they just needed to promote Todd to VP of football operations and thank him for his excellence with a bonus and a case of kit kats and a reminder that they OWN THE TEAM.
it happens ALL the TIME not just in sports. its not fantasy at all. ask anyone how many times in their life have they seen an IDIOT get promoted that didnt deserve it.
oh wait…..
October 5th, 2026 at 11:08 am
Todd “Prolong The Inevitable” Bowles should have been fired immediately after ‘GIVING UP’ on the team at the end of the ’23 season playoff loss to the Lions.
His own words were a fireable offense, regardless of the season record.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:11 am
Bowles should back up his own words and “not prolong the inevitable” by resigning immediately!
October 5th, 2026 at 11:11 am
Joe, go back and look at the record! Many fans on here were calling for just that change even then. We knew we ended 2024 badly and werenât going to do anything in the playoffs that year because of Bowles. Many wanted him gone then. Joe knows the record. About 62 percent of Bucs fans expressed confidence in Bowles after the final 2024 regular season game in Joe’s weekly poll. It was down to about 36 percent a week later after an emotional playoff loss. Many fans were down on Bowles, but many were not.–Joe We were going to lose first round anyway. Fans knew that was the time to change.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:13 am
The fact that so many of us wanted him fired after costing us a consecutive Super Bowl, means we still wanted him fired after a 10-7 record in a lousy division followed by a home playoff loss. âRooney Ruleâ? Give me a break. If I were black, Iâd offer my services to the NFL to be their âtokenâ interviewee every time a vacancy came available. 10k and a first class ticket to the interview. If a team is judging a coach strictly by the color of his skin, then forcing them to waste some poor saps time to go and sit through an interview, will not change their mind. âMostâ teams, not named Tampa Bay, want the best possible coach, regardless of skin color. Stupid, stupid rule and in of itself, is racist. âWow, we were dead set against hiring a black head coach, but after Joe Blows interview, we were blown away. Whoâd thought?â. Skin color has zero to do with coaching ability. End this stupid rule. Itâs insulting to great black coaches that they need extra credit or a bell curve for hiring.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:13 am
Only won 10 games and was in that position because of coen and his O.
Dopey has 3 winning seasons out of 9 years!!!!
Two 10 winning seasons seasons one 9. One of the biggest mistakes this organization ever did. Soooooo many good coaches been a last two years n here we are sucking with career loser bowels
October 5th, 2026 at 11:16 am
Really doesnât matter now, does it.
The Road not taken.
Who will be our next GM?
I think he already has an office at One Buc.
Name of Mike.
Who will be our next Head Coach? Next OC? Next DC?
Really, only think left to talk about.
Except for being Furious when we lose to the wretched cowboys, and slimy saints.
Only then will Jason Licht and Todd Bowles have drug Tampa fans to the bottom of the abyss.
Lose twice to the slimy saints, and no one will defend either of them, when they get execu . . . Fired, at the end of the season.
Some failures are too much for all the Buc fans.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:18 am
Do you remember that playoff loss Joe? You know, the one where Washington didn’t punt once? The one where the Bucs didn’t cause one TO or get to the rookie Jayden Daniels? I think Kancey is still looking for his jock strap on that crucial 4th down ole’. What’s the theme here? A Todd Bowles defense that can’t pressure the QB! A Todd Bowles defense that can’t get off the field.
ABSOLUTELY he should have been FIRED then and Bucs should have hired Liam. But that’s why this franchise is in this mess. The Glazers are being duped by the people they trust. It’s why I call them Team Delusional.
Joe would have understood the firing then. However, that is not what Joe wrote about here. None of that would have guaranteed Coen being the Bucs head coach, which was the point of this post. –Joe
October 5th, 2026 at 11:25 am
Joe, when you have a QB that has had a different OC every single year of his career, and then finally an OC comes in and gets the most out of him (top 3 offense in the league under Coen), you don’t let that guy leave the building.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:33 am
With the first pick in the nfl drsft the tampa bay bucs trade to the jaguars for head doah liam cohen
October 5th, 2026 at 11:38 am
ME13 hit the dusty trail!!! ‘nough said!!!
October 5th, 2026 at 11:38 am
This is a backwards thinking fanbase
I’m sure the Glazers are aware of it
October 5th, 2026 at 11:43 am
JoeFenceSitter.com
October 5th, 2026 at 11:45 am
They should have fired Bowles after last season’s collapse and went after Todd Monken. We were never going to get John Harbaugh.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:46 am
Hmm…let me think. Canales with Mayfield: pro bowl trip. Coen with Mayfield: pro bowl trip. Coen with Lawrence: resurrected career. Canales with Young: rising. So it must be Baker’s fault that we’re in the tank. It can’t be the HC or the last two OCs.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:46 am
The other thing to remember is that the Bucs didnât cheap out with Coen. They were going to make him the highest paid coordinator in NFL history.
What some of you are forgetting is that many players have said they like Bowles. If you fire a guy after he had a winning record and made the playoffs how do you think that sits with the players. Everyone would be bringing up for decades about how the Bucs wronged Bowles.
People still bring up the Bucs and what they did with Bo Jackson.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:48 am
Bowles was 10-7 that year. Coen had one good year under his belt.
No one who wasn’t a kid playing pretend would have fired Bowles then. If they fired Bowles, hired Coen, and Coen went 2-15 they would have been roasted to a crisp doing a move like that.
The year before that though, and especially this most recent year, and now? Yes indeed the Glazers are to blame. Big time.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:48 am
I agree with Joe. Another issue would be in attracting quality coaches in the future, if they know that they could be fired during a playoff run. Job security.
It wasnât a realistic option, as appealing as it looked at the time, and in retrospect.
I agree with FortMyersDave that Bowles leaving open maybe the best wide out in the league at the time, when he blitzed the Rams was heartbreaking. Especially coming from a defensive minded coach. I was upset as a fan that Arians left so soon and foisted Bowles on us Bucs fans.
But if the franchise wants to attract a rising OC, or a veteran head coach who looks like they have something left in the tank. They cant make candidates wonder if they will be fired in the middle of a playoff run.
As Iâve said before, letting the current regime finish the season, then clean house is the best way to make a new start.
Prospective candidates will know that the Glazers don’t hit the panic button during the season.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:50 am
Sorry, Joe, but you missed the point. Coen saw the writing on the wall and didn’t want to be shackled to an inept HC; no matter how much $ they threw at him. Didn’t miss any point. Post is about being head coach. –Joe
October 5th, 2026 at 11:52 am
Wrong.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:56 am
No coach in the NFL is capable of doing what Todd does.
It’s a wonderful decision to keep him at the helm for more greatness.
We should all be throwing flowers at the Glazers feet for keeping him around to spread his culture.
Blue skies forever with Bowles on the job! Pom Pom waive, Pom Pom waive!!!
October 5th, 2026 at 11:56 am
The writing was all over the wall.
Bowles defense had just went through a playoff game without forcing a single punt and Coen had just led the Bucs to an offense that the Glazers had only ever dreamt about.
They didnt have the guts to make the move. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too. Coen had other thoughts.
October 5th, 2026 at 11:59 am
Coen was a difficult scenario but so was firing Dungy for Parcels, then having Parcels back out to then trade for Gruden. You either play to win or play to not lose. Coen got the absolute best out of not only Mayfield but the o-line as well. If ownership is convinced Mayfield is our guy which adding guarantees to his previous contract would indicate, then keeping the offense intact is a must.
We can get into specifics of every scenario but ultimately itâs a results league and letting Coen leave was in fact the wrong decision. Not firing Bowles after last year was doubling down on wrong and itâs proven to be a mistake that may set the fan base back a few years. Lightning are back, Rays are winning and coming to Tampa, USF is gaining traction with a new stadium on the wayâŚ.folks in Tampa only have so many discretionary dollars and theyâve got better options than watching Bowles & Co. Bowles himself always conveniently has a rational for why we loseâŚ.ultimately he has to win regardless of if itâs his offense, injuries, the division, his defense, etcâŚ..his results arenât there.
October 5th, 2026 at 12:02 pm
I don’t trust that Coen wouldn’t have still bolted for Jacksonville after telling us yes.
October 5th, 2026 at 12:04 pm
This makes sense and I will admit, I was skeptical of Coen as HC.
However, I am not in the building.
The Bucs are trying to win football games! Make the hard decision. Itâs an offensive league. You could be looking at your 4th OC in 4 years! You just had the #4 ranked Offense and you have a ton of continuity on the offense.
Thats a lot of reasons to have made the move to Coen at that time.
As I said after the Washington game, Bowles didnât call a bad game for the D but they couldnât get off the field. With a top ranked O, Bowles should have been asked why he didnât match strategy and let Coen have all 4 downs? Could have fired him for that if you wanted.
October 5th, 2026 at 12:31 pm
I’m calling absolute BS here Joe.
Calling BS on what? If you think it was a 100 percent certain Coen would have taken the Bucs head coaching job, then OK. That’s your opinion. –Joe
You just hired Coen as OC from a college program. He showed that he was able to take what he learned from McVay and evolve into a top tier offensive mind.
You do absolutely EVERYTHING in your power to not let that guy walk out the door. If Baker was clearly going to be your franchise QB, then you NEVER allow the OC who turned him into the best version of himself to walk away.
Just look at what the Glazers did for another young offensive mind in Gruden to obtain his services.
Bowles should have been a complete non factor. So take out of your argument. The Bucs could have easily gone to Coen right after the Washington game and hand him the keys to the kingdom and locked him up.
To say it was unrealistic because Todd Bowles was in a “playoff run” …come on. The only reason that team made the playoffs was because of the offense and Coen.
The media here is about as forward thinking as the organization.
October 5th, 2026 at 12:32 pm
The Glazers played it safe, just like their below .500 head coach. They knew by January 7 that Jacksonville wanted Coen, and they had 12 days before he was hired to counter and keep him in Tampa. A 30-point offense fills seats. Low-scoring, mistake-prone, defense-first football doesn’t.
Were the Bucs in the middle of a “playoff run” when they let Todd Monken walk out the door too? Quit making excuses for the Glazers. Are you trying not to get your press pass revoked or something? đđ
October 5th, 2026 at 12:35 pm
Lakeland Says:
October 5th, 2026 at 11:38 am
This is a backwards thinking fanbase
Iâm sure the Glazers are aware of it
What utter nonsense! “The fanbase” found on these pages are the extreme BUC fans! The ones that obsess over draft picks and can recite tales of the Bucs That happened years ago. Yea, we are the backward thinkers. At least we can think, instead of echoing back marketing hype put out in pre-season and dreaming STILL of a 2026 Buc SB.
October 5th, 2026 at 12:36 pm
The truth is the Bucs thought they could just make Coen the highest paid OC and still report to his HC Bowles. Liam knew his worth and the Bucs did not. Plain and simple.
No vision. No guts.
Making the excuse that it was “unrealistic” is par for the course in these parts. If the Bucs really wanted to keep Coen, they could’ve made it happen.
October 5th, 2026 at 12:43 pm
âThatâs history Fletchâ the question isnât why we didnât ,, the question is who is that guy NOW (for next year) ,, who is the next Kubiak, Johnson, Coen,,, Anyone have some names??? LaFluer or Stiechen (if they become available) ,, Daibol ,, or some young gun out there ?? You need a HC that call plays that way you have the same play caller for the next X years,, the problem w a great Defensive Coach is the OC is Grizz/Robinson and you lose or itâs Coen/Canales and you get one really good year and they leave .
October 5th, 2026 at 12:47 pm
Iâve stated my thoughts on why this didnât happen many times.
The Glazers did not want to be perceived as raycysts.
Ryan Clark and others would have been all over it.
October 5th, 2026 at 12:53 pm
You are overlooking one huge element here:
The Glazers really, really like Bowles. And as Joe noted, a significant percentage of fans did, too. That’s data, not Joe’s opinion. You truly think any boss is going to run an employee they really like and respect who is somewhat successful at his job (and making them millions), with no drama and little to no pushback?
October 5th, 2026 at 1:22 pm
Sometimes the comments on here show the total level of stupidity some people have. Either that or they are passengers on this train who havenât been fans through multiple losing seasons. The owners went on a huge spending spree massively over the cap to bring in Brady and his crew, yup sure sounds like owners who donât give a s..t!!!
I am sure the same people commenting here would have blasted the Bucs if they had hired The Serpentine and it had failed. Revionist history is dumb, if you want to really have fun look at the interns Gruden had and that staff!!!!
October 5th, 2026 at 1:24 pm
o, the Bucs would have had to fire Bowles after losing to Washington and immediately tell Coen they wanted him as head coach while simultaneously advising him heâd have to hang out quietly while Rooney Rule interviews were conducted.
Meanwhile, if the Bucs went that route, they would have had to gamble on Coen not be courted by other teams and that the Bucs wouldnât be outbid.
———
The Rooney Rule is why I said, even at the time, the Bucs really didn’t have a good option to keep Coen, because they’d have to fire Bowles first, then hope no one came in an hired Coen as they held their bogus hiring process. This scenario would also have to assume that Coen would be willing and able to take the heat, since the vast majority of sports media are woke warriors and would have tried to destroy Coen, pit players against him, etc. Finally there is the fact that everything you read says Bowles is really well liked by Bucs players, and it could come off like Coen stabbed him in the back to get his job, creating bad blood.
I said at the time, I think Coen would probably prefer to leave since he’d be able to take over a team in a way he wouldn’t have done here. Also, who is to say Coen say Baker as any sort of draw? Coming off a career year, Baker still managed to go 0-5 in big games (prime time and playoff games). And who is to say, on the open market, the Glazers are willing to outbid the Jags to keep him?
October 5th, 2026 at 1:33 pm
Coen is a scu**ag. And fans want that complete lack of integrity at HC?
October 5th, 2026 at 1:40 pm
Spot on Joe. Fans are just mad and will blame everyone all the way down to the janitors. You guys really think coen would take the job after watching the HC before him get fired for making the playoffs. Not all but a lot of these fans donât have common sense
October 5th, 2026 at 1:44 pm
It is only not realistic because of the owners and GM we have. They both have a failure of vision and we are still paying for it and going to for a long time.
October 5th, 2026 at 1:55 pm
It was realistic. There has even been an in house example of a playoff making head coach getting fired. Tony Dungee got fired after losing in the wildcard round. That got the team Chucky and the first superbowl. It just means we need to be bold and brave.
October 5th, 2026 at 2:03 pm
Bravo!
Thanks Joe!
This subject makes me sick every time, I see the issue as you.
Go Bucs!
October 5th, 2026 at 2:05 pm
It was a common sense football move.
Coen came in and immediately upgraded the offense, the offense carried the team to 10 wins. Todd has been here since 2019 and the defense has rarely outperformed the offense.
If the Front Office/Ownership was pro active they’d have promoted Coen and either moved Bowles to a front office/advisory role. But the leadership of this team is very reactionary and is slow to make decisions that can help the team.
Coen is 16-5 as a HC and was able to turn Jax around quickly, he knows what he is doing. The Bucs leadership does not
October 5th, 2026 at 2:15 pm
The munch strikes again! Media is WOKE and baker sucks. Damn dude! You must be the same kind of genius as Bowles! And yeah, go ahead and bash me. It’s what your kind does. You’re like a fly on the shoulder: easy to brush off
October 5th, 2026 at 2:16 pm
Agreed. Would have love to have him, but it was never a realistic situation for us to make the move.
October 5th, 2026 at 2:17 pm
This was the move to make. Simple as that. It wasnât that difficult. Licht and the Glazers didnât have the balls to do it. Hence football purgatory now a full blown football hell. Saddle up, itâs going to be 0-5 after Thursday lol.
October 5th, 2026 at 2:31 pm
Comments saying fans see how good Coen is now is why fans are upset is not remotely the case at all. A large portion of Bucs fans(including me) wanted Coen as the head coach after the Washington playoff game. The Bucs defense stunk then and Bowles made boneheaded decisions that cost the Bucs games. It was clear to a large amount of the fan base the Coen was an offensive genius and Bowles was mediocre at best.
October 5th, 2026 at 2:42 pm
They were willing to make Coen the highest paid OC in the league. He agreed to be. This wasn’t a case of us ignoring his value.
October 5th, 2026 at 2:45 pm
True. It was Coen seeing the ineptitude of Bowles!
October 5th, 2026 at 3:03 pm
Joe, if Al Davis was the owner of the Bucs in 2024, do you think he would have let Liam Coen get out of the building?
I rest my case.
October 5th, 2026 at 3:52 pm
Youâre right. There is no comparison to McDermottâŚ.he had accomplished much more than the guy we refused to launch.
Also – the chargers? That win looks like fools gold now doesnât it?
You want claim the that the glazers were scared of opticsâŚ.agree 110%.
But the claim that they couldnât make the logistics work is faulty analysis. If you asked them if they could go back and change the decision I would bet they would do whatever is necessary to make it work.
October 5th, 2026 at 4:01 pm
Great article Joe. Ive been saying this idea the Bucs could have fired Bowles and hired Coen were ridiculous, and I did not even think about the power angle. The Glazers supposedly turned down Harbaugh for the very reason.
Now, Joe, can you write a similar article for those clamoring for Gruden or Tomlin as HC. Some ppl just don’t get it. As can be seen by some of the stupid comments above.
October 5th, 2026 at 4:59 pm
If the Glazers wanted Coen he would be the HC which is what Coen obviously wanted.
The NFL is a results oriented operation. Todd’s defense has been pretty much the same every year good run D and bad pass D with virtually no QB pressure. With Coen, we had a top 5 offense. Everyone knew about Baker and however many OC’s he’s gone thru. You finally got 1 to pair with Baker and said…nahhh let’s keep him paired with the defensive guru.
Anyone truly committed to winning championships never makes that decision. Especially in today’s offense orientated NFL.
Bowles has slowly drained the life out of the Bucs. In 4 seasons we go from playoffs, to not even in the payoffs, to an up to now winless 2026 season. And during this time we we’ve watched the 2 previous OC’s take their teams to the playoffs. The Bucs are on a completely different trajectory and that all starts at the top of the food chain.