Jacksonville Jaguars News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen talks during a press conference after practice during an NFL training camp fifth session at the Miller Electric Center, Monday, July 28, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union] Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Where Jaguars Coaching Staff Ranks Entering Season

Originally posted on Jacksonville Jaguars on SI
By Zak Gilbert | Last updated Aug 3, 2025 4:00 PM ET

The Jaguars have never had an Associated Press Coach of the Year. Liam Coen might change that if he can find a way to lead Jacksonville to the playoffs this season.

And if the Jaguars reach the postseason, one feather in Coen’s cap will be Friday’s ESPN rankings of the NFL’s best coaching staffs. Jacksonville ranked 31st of 32 teams.

“I am the last person to believe that tenure in the league guarantees competency or predicts improvement,” said Ben Solak, who ranked the coaching staffs for ESPN.com. “If the Jaguars went through a thoughtful search and landed on these guys as coaching talents, then kudos to them.

“But from the outside looking in, it's hard to find a staff with a lower floor than the Jaguars’, simply because of the inexperience. Coaching is about solving problems on the fly, and it's many years at the mast that make steady hands at the helm. The start might be rocky in Jacksonville.”

Jags hired against the grain

Solak said that unlike other rookie head coaches, Coen didn’t surround himself with experienced veterans like Steve Wilks, Matt Eberflus or Brandon Staley. Instead, Coen went the opposite direction.

He hired 29-year-old Grant Udinski as offensive coordinator (Coen will call plays, though), and also hired Anthony Campanile, who’s never been an NFL defensive coordinator. Solak didn’t include special teams coaches in his rankings.

But give Coen credit because he’s already taken important steps toward preparing himself for his first NFL game. And Udinski was a sponge over the last three years while working under Kevin O’Connell with the Vikings, who Solak ranked as the NFL’s No. 1 coaching staff.

Campanile also has indirect ties to that Vikings staff. Before Brian Flores took the reins of the Vikings defense, Campanile worked under him in Miami. Campanile also worked under Vic Fangio.

“The Jaguars don't deserve to be here,” Solak wrote. “They really don't. To be fair, I had the Commanders at this spot in 2024, and that looks tectonically dumb now -- so maybe it's a blessed spot. But the Jaguars rank this low simply because of how inexperienced and unproven this staff is.

“Coen's first season calling plays in an NFL game was last season; he has only five years of NFL coaching experience heading into this job. Don't get me wrong -- he absolutely shredded it. Tampa was in the top five in pretty much every offensive metric we've got, but we know that offensive ingenuity does not always spell head coaching success.”

Stacked deck

Jacksonville’s division and small market don’t help in the Coach of the Year voting, either. Even if Coen can surprise the league by leading the Jaguars to the playoffs, he’ll have to fight those narratives.

Doug Marrone improved the Jaguars by seven wins in 2017, going from 3-13 to 10-6, but he still finished third in Coach of the Year voting behind Sean McVay and Mike Zimmer. Five years later, Doug Pederson in 2022 improved the Jaguars from 3-14 to 9-8, but he also finished third (behind Brian Daboll and Kyle Shanahan). Jacksonville finished 4-13 last season.

Breaking Jags news is available on X (Twitter) by following @JaguarsOnSI and @_John_Shipley. Plus, tell us where you think the Jaguars’ coaching staff should be ranked by visiting our Facebook page, here.

This article first appeared on Jacksonville Jaguars on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: