Liam Coen tabbed one of the best assistant coaching hires of offseason

The Kentucky Wildcats made the switch from Eddie Gran to Liam Coen earlier this year. A much-needed change, Coen was brought in to give the Wildcats some youth, and re-vamp the offense.

Coen comes from the Sean McVay-Rams coaching tree, which is seen as one of the best in the NFL.

Footballscoop.com agrees that Coen was a good hire, naming him the No. 13 overall assistant coaching hire of the 2021 off-season.

“He was a great quarterback at UMass. Has a great feel and understanding of the game from an all-22 perspective,” McVay said via text to Joe Tessitore. “Expect him to use motions, formations, tempo as a weapon to apply pressure to the defense. Spent the last three seasons as one of my most trusted coaches who I heavily relied on behind the scenes. Strong communication skills, great ability to connect with the guys.”

Coen is expected to open up the Kentucky offense this season, something that Kentucky has not done, maybe ever, under Mark Stoops. Kentucky has only ever ranked as high as 8th in the SEC in total scoring, while remaining a tried-and-true rushing attack.

“I believe that truly marrying the run and the pass is such an advantage,” Coen said. “We’ve run the football effectively but all of our play-actions, keepers and movements are directly married to the run game. That true marriage, playing around with tempos, in an out of the huddle, making (the defense) defend every blade of grass.”

With weapons such as Wan’Dale Robinson and Josh Ali at your disposal, that shouldn’t be an issue. The only question remaining; who will be throwing the ball?