The Los Angeles Rams have had to replace members of their coaching staff this offseason, most notably Kevin O’Connell, who left to become the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. To fill the void left behind by O’Connell, the Rams brought back a familiar face in Liam Coen to be Sean McVay’s offensive coordinator.
While speaking to Kevin Demoff (the COO of the Rams) at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, NBC Sports’ Peter King highlighted how excited the Rams are to get Coen back on their coaching staff.
Rams COO Kevin Demoff was in Indianapolis for less than 24 hours. We had the bold thought of meeting for lunch outside the convenient Combine bubble. We walked twenty minutes away and hit BRU BURGER, and we didn’t run into one assistant coach, didn’t see one NFL logo, and had salads and shared a plate of nachos. The one thing I took out of it was how excited the entire organization is over the hiring of Liam Coen as the new offensive coordinator. Coen was with the Rams from 2018 to 2020, left for a year to call plays at Kentucky, and is now returning to L.A. Wondering if the Rams are wallowing after losing eight coaches? Don’t be fooled. They’re happy for the guys moving on, energized by the new crop coming in.
For those that don’t know, this isn’t Coen’s first stint on McVay’s coaching staff. Back in 2018, Coen was brought in to be the team’s assistant wide receivers coach.
After two seasons as the assistant wide receivers coach, Coen would then become the assistant quarterbacks coach for the Rams in 2020 before becoming the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Kentucky in 2021.
During the 2020 collegiate season, the Kentucky Wildcats produced only 318 total yards of offense and 21.8 points per game. However, in Coen’s lone year as the program’s offensive coordinator/play-caller, Kentucky’s offense tallied 425.2 total yards and 32.3 points per game.
When the hiring of Coen was made official, Coen admitted that the opportunity to rejoin the Rams was one he “couldn’t pass up.” With McVay’s coaching staff continually getting looks from head coach-needy teams, coupled with the excitement surrounding his hiring, Coen could become a popular candidate in the coming years.