The good news for Kentucky: Liam Coen has been exactly as advertised in his one season since arriving from the Los Angeles Rams.
The bad news for Kentucky: Liam Coen has been exactly as advertised in his one season since arriving from the Los Angeles Rams.
Sunday's Super Bowl will be Kevin O'Connell's final game as LA's offensive coordinator before assuming head coaching duties with the Minnesota Vikings, which means the Rams will need a new OC.
As Adam Schefter reports for ESPN, the Rams are expecting an exodus of assistants moving up to bigger jobs elsewhere, which could be an unfortunate thing for Kentucky:
But the Rams have reinforcements on their mind. Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who already has worked as the Rams' quarterbacks coach under Sean McVay, is a prime candidate to succeed O'Connell, per league sources.
The 36-year-old Coen spent three years in the Rams' organization, two assistant wide receivers coach and one as assistant quarterbacks coach.
His one season in Lexington saw a 48 percent jump in scoring (21.8 ppg to 32.3), a 24 percent increase in yards per play (5.15 to 6.4), and a 33 percent boost in passing efficiency (111.24 to 147.65). In conjunction with a revamped offense, Kentucky doubled its win total, going from 5-6 in 2020 to 10-3 with a No. 18 final AP ranking in '21.
Coen is not the only Sean McVay pupil that could return to Los Angeles, however.
Greg Olson was the Rams' quarterbacks coach in 2017 before taking the Raiders offensive coordinator job from 2018-21. He is currently out of a job with Josh McDaniels taking over in Las Vegas.
And, as Schefter writes, running backs coach Thomas Brown could also be promoted to offensive coordinator when O'Connell leaves.
Stay tuned to The Scoop as the Rams offensive coordinator search develops.