New Jaguars coach Liam Coen set to lead the team's latest turnaround attempt

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New Jaguars coach Liam Coen set to lead the team's latest turnaround attempt

2025-01-28 08:15 Last Updated At：08:31

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — New Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen wants players who play “through the echo of the whistle” and “on the edge.”

It would be the kind of identity and mentality the woeful franchise has lacked for most of the past two decades.

“It’s a violent game,” Coen said. “They have to be that way. I want them to play that way. So that’s where it starts. If we can get that out of these guys, I think we’ll be moving in the right direction.”

The Jaguars introduced Coen on Monday, three days after agreeing to terms on a five-year contract. Owner Shad Khan parted ways with general manager Trent Baalke to clear a path to land Coen, who reversed course after telling Tampa Bay he planned to remain the team’s offensive coordinator.

Khan called Coen late Wednesday, persuading him to change his mind about interviewing and consider becoming the eighth head coach in franchise history and fourth in the past six years. Coen will now have significant input on hiring a general manager.

“He was extremely convincing,” Coen said. “I’m not saying it’s a blank canvas by any means, but it’s a canvas and it’s a canvas that you can go work with and put time and investment in, and it’s not so far away.”

Khan was looking for an offensive-minded coach who would modernize the Jaguars and get the most out of Trevor Lawrence, who signed a five-year, $275 million contract extension in June.

“The fundamental thing that we need to address and the No. 1 thing, obviously, is the quarterback position and our commitment to Trevor,” Khan said. “I think it’s well known, and we believe in him.

“That was the fundamental question really to all the candidates: How would they do it? After we got done with that, it was very evident to me that Liam was the guy.”

The 39-year-old Coen was the architect of one of Tampa Bay’s most productive offenses in its history in 2024. The Buccaneers ranked third in the NFL in yards (399.6 per game) and fourth in points (29.5).

Coen became the first NFL coordinator in at least the past 25 years to average more than 28 points a game, average more than 6 yards a play, convert more than 50% of the time on third down and score touchdowns 65% of the time in the red zone.

And Coen envisions having similar success in Jacksonville with Lawrence, who has missed eight games the past two seasons because of various injuries.

“When I went and watched his response to negative plays, whether it was a pick, an incompletion, a critical third down miss or a punt or whatever it was, I felt like he always responded," Coen said. “And that was something that I was like, ’Man, OK, he’s got that. That takes (heart). That’s all that matters. That’s not all that matters, but in that moment, that’s what matters. And so I saw that and I’m like, ‘OK, he’s got that.’ That’s huge to start off with.”

The Jaguars lost 18 of their final 23 games under former coach Doug Pederson, who was fired with a 23-30 record after three seasons. One of the main complaints about Pederson’s team was it lacked an identity — on either side of the ball.

“How do we want to play the game? Fast, fundamentally sound, attacking, situational masters and tough both mentally and physically,” Coen said. “It is players over plays. How do we make this as much about the players and making this about bringing out the best in you.”

Getting there, Coen said, starts with creating culture. It’s a topic he’s already broached with Lawrence and fellow captain and defensive end Josh Hines-Allen.

“I heard guys that are yearning for more, just more culture, more unity, more communication, just everybody being on the same page, a true aligned vision and for everybody to be able to tell each other some hard truths in ways and see each other’s blind spots and communicate those because that’s where the growth occurs,” he said.

Coen interviewed Minnesota defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator Daronte Jones on Monday for Jacksonville’s defensive coordinator position. He also already decided to retain special teams coach Heath Farwell, who signed a three-year contract Monday.

Two of Farwell's specialists, punter Logan Cooke and long snapper Ross Matiscik, made the Pro Bowl.

“That was a no-brainer,” Coen said.

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Turkish court rules to remove head of the main opposition party in latest blow

ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish court on Thursday issued a ruling that effectively removed the head of the country’s main opposition party by annulling a 2023 congress that elected him.

The move deals a serious blow to the beleaguered Republican People’s Party, or CHP, as it struggles under waves of legal cases targeting its members and elected officials.

An appeals court in Turkey’s capital Ankara declared the CHP congress that picked Ozgur Ozel as chairman to be null, ordering that he should be replaced by his predecessor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Last year, a lower court ruled against claims of irregularities and misconduct surrounding Ozel’s election but Thursday’s decision overturned the original verdict.

The ruling led to frantic meetings at the CHP’s Ankara headquarters, further threatening the opposition’s chances of unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after more than two decades in office. Large crowds gathered outside the office block and police erected barriers.

The next presidential election is due in 2028 but Erdogan can call for an early vote. His main challenger, the CHP mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, has been imprisoned since March last year and is currently on trial on corruption charges.

The appeals court's decision suspends Ozel and members of the party’s executive board from their duties. They will be “provisionally” replaced by Kilicdaroglu and those who held office before the November 2023 congress.

In comments to broadcaster TV100, Kilicdaroglu called for party members to remain calm. “Our party is a very large party and it will solve its own problems internally,” he said. The 77-year-old was removed following a 13-year tenure as leader, during which the CHP failed to win any national elections.

Ozel, meanwhile, attempted to rally supporters.

“I am not promising you a path to power through a rose garden,” he posted on X following the ruling. “I am promising you the ability to endure suffering but never surrender. I am promising you honor, dignity, courage and struggle!”

The CHP is expected to challenge Thursday’s ruling in the Supreme Court in the coming days.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek, who oversaw several cases against the CHP in his former role as Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, described the court’s ruling as one that “reinforces our citizens’ trust in democracy.”

Many observers have said that the legal cases against the CHP — mostly centered on corruption allegations — are politically motivated and aimed at neutralizing the party ahead of the next election. The government, however, insists that Turkey’s courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.

Erdogan has ruled Turkey, first as prime minister and then as president, since 2003. His electoral record suffered a serious blow in 2019 when the CHP seized control of several major cities in local elections. In Istanbul, Imamoglu emerged as a popular and charismatic figure that many felt could successfully topple Erdogan.