With the Los Angeles Rams needing a new offensive coordinator after losing Kevin O’Connell to the Minnesota Vikings, they didn’t have to look far to find a replacement. They brought in a familiar face, reuniting with Liam Coen after he spent one year as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator in 2021.
Coen was the Rams’ assistant wide receivers coach in 2018 and 2019, and then was promoted to assistant quarterbacks coach in 2020. He’s now back as Sean McVay’s offensive coordinator and couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity.
He kept a close eye on the Rams while in Lexington last year, too, showing his players film of the Rams offense each week. Here’s what he told J.B. Long on the “Rams Revealed” podcast.
“Once I was here and able to learn and digest this system and offense, it was pretty simple at times to be able to show the players at Kentucky the film that we were watching,” Coen said. “It’s the same concepts, the same philosophy, the same plays and then really just diving into the technique and fundamentals that the Rams would use. And the time on task that you have in the NFL is different than the college game, so the ability for us to every week show Rams film – more so to talk about fundamentals, technique, less scheme and show the players, ‘this is how it’s supposed to look.’ And they really took to that and a lot of guys, their games got better. They improved, just from watching these players.”
Coen had a massive impact on the Kentucky offense in his first and only season with the Wildcats. Kentucky went from 94th in yards per play to 18th after Coen arrived. Overall, they also went from 5-6 as a team to 10-3, and Coen’s revamped offense is a big reason why.
He’ll look to carry over that same success with the Rams after rejoining McVay’s staff, which was the only opportunity he was willing to leave Kentucky for. The Rams offense is already in good hands with McVay, but having another bright mind like Coen will only help the group improve further.
