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Kentucky hires Rams coach Liam Coen as offensive coordinator | Lexington Herald Leader
L.A. Rams assistant Liam Coen tabbed to revamp Kentucky football offense
BY JOSH MOORE
DECEMBER 15, 2020 12:34 PM,
Liam Coen (therams.com)
Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops announced the hire of new offensive coordinator Liam Cohen on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. Stoops talked about what he liked about the Los Angeles Rams assistant coach. BY JOHN CLAY | UK ATHLETICS
Liam Coen, an assistant coach with the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, is the University of Kentucky’s top choice to call plays next season.
Coen is expected to be hired as Kentucky’s next offensive coordinator, according to multiple reports. The school could not announce the hire as of 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Kevin Demoff, chief operating officer for the Rams, on Twitter acknowledged a FootballScoop report that Coen was “zeroed in” as Stoops’ selection for the job.
“Awesome to see Liam get this opportunity, very deserving!” Demoff wrote.
Coen, who turned 35 last month, was a wide receivers coach with Rams the last two years before becoming their assistant quarterbacks coach this season. He arrived in L.A. via the northeast, where he spent the first eight years of his post-playing career coaching quarterbacks and offenses at multiple Division I schools.
He’ll succeed both Eddie Gran, UK’s primary offensive coordinator, and Darin Hinshaw, a co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. They both were fired earlier this month after five seasons in their respective roles.
Los Angeles Rams assistant quarterbacks coach Liam Coen is Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator. Doug Murray AP
Coen was set to become the offensive coordinator at Holy Cross in 2018 before the Rams hired him. His most recent collegiate stop was at Maine, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, a Football Championship Subdivision league. Coen was the Black Bears’ offensive coordinator from 2016-2017, and in his second year running back Josh Mack (now a standout at Liberty University) led FCS in yards per game (133.5) and was a finalist for that level’s Walter Payton Award.
Prior to Maine, Coen was the passing game coordinator under head coach Mark Whipple at UMass, the school for whom he was a star quarterback, from 2014-2015. UMass led the Mid-American Conference in passing yards per game in 2014. A year as the passing game coordinator at Rhode Island in 2011 was sandwiched by two stints as the quarterbacks coach at Brown University (2010, his first job, and a two-year return from 2012-2013).
As a player Coen remains, by far, the the career passing leader at UMass with 11,031 yards (about 4,000 ahead of the next guy) and passing touchdowns (90, 33 ahead of second place). He played professionally for the Alabama Vipers in the Arena Football League before landing at Brown.
Coen is expected to work with head coach Mark Stoops on filling two other open spots on the offensive staff. Those additions will handle running backs and the offensive line, respectively.
Stoops has had three unique offensive coordinators in his eight-year tenure at UK. Neal Brown, now the head coach at West Virginia, was on his original staff before leaving to become the head coach at Troy following the 2014 season. Shannon Dawson succeeded Brown but only lasted one season before Stoops let him go. Gran was in place for five seasons, the first four resulting in the only bowl trips under Stoops and the fifth likely earning an invitation this weekend.
Rams head coach Sean McVay, under whom Coen has worked for three years, is widely regarded as an offensive genius. The Rams through 13 games this season rank fifth in total offense, 12th in passing offense and eighth in rushing offense. That kind of balance between the run and pass is something Stoops was adamant about securing in this coaching search.
L.A. Rams assistant Liam Coen tabbed to revamp Kentucky football offense
BY JOSH MOORE
DECEMBER 15, 2020 12:34 PM,
Liam Coen (therams.com)
Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops announced the hire of new offensive coordinator Liam Cohen on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. Stoops talked about what he liked about the Los Angeles Rams assistant coach. BY JOHN CLAY | UK ATHLETICS
Liam Coen, an assistant coach with the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, is the University of Kentucky’s top choice to call plays next season.
Coen is expected to be hired as Kentucky’s next offensive coordinator, according to multiple reports. The school could not announce the hire as of 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Kevin Demoff, chief operating officer for the Rams, on Twitter acknowledged a FootballScoop report that Coen was “zeroed in” as Stoops’ selection for the job.
“Awesome to see Liam get this opportunity, very deserving!” Demoff wrote.
Coen, who turned 35 last month, was a wide receivers coach with Rams the last two years before becoming their assistant quarterbacks coach this season. He arrived in L.A. via the northeast, where he spent the first eight years of his post-playing career coaching quarterbacks and offenses at multiple Division I schools.
He’ll succeed both Eddie Gran, UK’s primary offensive coordinator, and Darin Hinshaw, a co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. They both were fired earlier this month after five seasons in their respective roles.
Los Angeles Rams assistant quarterbacks coach Liam Coen is Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator. Doug Murray AP
Coen was set to become the offensive coordinator at Holy Cross in 2018 before the Rams hired him. His most recent collegiate stop was at Maine, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, a Football Championship Subdivision league. Coen was the Black Bears’ offensive coordinator from 2016-2017, and in his second year running back Josh Mack (now a standout at Liberty University) led FCS in yards per game (133.5) and was a finalist for that level’s Walter Payton Award.
Prior to Maine, Coen was the passing game coordinator under head coach Mark Whipple at UMass, the school for whom he was a star quarterback, from 2014-2015. UMass led the Mid-American Conference in passing yards per game in 2014. A year as the passing game coordinator at Rhode Island in 2011 was sandwiched by two stints as the quarterbacks coach at Brown University (2010, his first job, and a two-year return from 2012-2013).
As a player Coen remains, by far, the the career passing leader at UMass with 11,031 yards (about 4,000 ahead of the next guy) and passing touchdowns (90, 33 ahead of second place). He played professionally for the Alabama Vipers in the Arena Football League before landing at Brown.
Coen is expected to work with head coach Mark Stoops on filling two other open spots on the offensive staff. Those additions will handle running backs and the offensive line, respectively.
Stoops has had three unique offensive coordinators in his eight-year tenure at UK. Neal Brown, now the head coach at West Virginia, was on his original staff before leaving to become the head coach at Troy following the 2014 season. Shannon Dawson succeeded Brown but only lasted one season before Stoops let him go. Gran was in place for five seasons, the first four resulting in the only bowl trips under Stoops and the fifth likely earning an invitation this weekend.
Rams head coach Sean McVay, under whom Coen has worked for three years, is widely regarded as an offensive genius. The Rams through 13 games this season rank fifth in total offense, 12th in passing offense and eighth in rushing offense. That kind of balance between the run and pass is something Stoops was adamant about securing in this coaching search.
