I’ve watched the NFL for over 60 years and have wondered a lot about the ethics or lack thereof with teams, leadership, and money. A new low occurred last week with Coen I wonder if this will be the new normal.
I remember Bill Belichick accepting Jets head coaching job and going to the Patriots right when Jets were going to announce him as head coach. This is not a first. Belichick situation was actually worse. The move will ultimately be judged on whether Coen has success. Success made everybody not care how Belichick left.
Coen got an offer he couldn't refuse, but obviously he handled it poorly. He didn't show up to sign his contract and ghosted the team. Look, if you don't show up at all to sign your contract when you said you were going to, then the team is going to pull it off the table anyway until the air is cleared. Did he think that if things didn't work out in Jax he could just show up the next day in Tampa like nothing happened? I don't understand why he didn't give the team the heads up that he was heading back to Jacksonville. He just showed lack of class and understanding of how to handle the situation.
I have to question how he's going to handle being a leader of men and be expected to mentor young men and coaches on how to handle themselves when he doesn't have that skill mastered for himself.
i think we are all taking this way too hard and it's not attractive
guy got something ridiculous like $12M a year for the pinnacle job each football coach covets, head coach of one of the 32 NFL franchises.
He could have sat out a year in the NFL head coach hunt and look what happened to Bobby Slowik who did that a year ago
Not that any of us could be head coaches, but put things in perspective. If you were offered the top job, 3x your salary of what you current company is offering, of a competing organization, would you not have done the same thing?
sure he went about it poorly but honestly, it's called leverage. If you ever went back to your company to "match" an offer, did you not use the other company as leverage.
Coen did what was best for him and his family and was with us for less than one calendar year.
let's toughen up Buc Fans
People are pointing fingers at Coen who did not act like a real man which is true. But the Bucs FO dragged their feet on the contracts too so it isn't like Coen was giving choices early on.
Coen should have been honest that he was considering JAX offer again and doing what is best for him and his family. But the Bucs FO should have been more honest and forthcoming with what contract they were planning offer him BEFORE he started to conduct such interviews. Lack of communication from Coen and Bucs FO caused this situation to happen.
People are pointing fingers at Coen who did not act like a real man which is true. But the Bucs FO dragged their feet on the contracts too so it isn't like Coen was giving choices early on.
Coen should have been honest that he was considering JAX offer again and doing what is best for him and his family. But the Bucs FO should have been more honest and forthcoming with what contract they were planning offer him BEFORE he started to conduct such interviews. Lack of communication from Coen and Bucs FO caused this situation to happen.
i dont think it would have made a difference. Meaning like if they made him the highest paid OC in November.
Guy making crazy money right now and got the job he wanted.
Bowles makes like $3M a year on his contract
Bucs offered like $4.5M for him to remain offensive coordinator
He got like $12M a year with the Jaguars
If all those numbers are true, there is nothing the Bucs could have did absence firing Todd Bowles and dealing with the locker room and media backlash, not to mention reputational damage of any coach wanting to come here in the future.
Like most things it's never just one thing
nah this was about 2 things (1) becoming an nfl head coach (2) making bank bro
Neither of which Bucs could have done anything about, reasonably, in January 2025
It’s happened a lot. Parcell’s was about to be a Buccaneer HC - before he parlayed that into a “better” job (Cowboys, as I recall). Chip Kelly was going to leave Oregon to be Buccaneers HC - before he decided to jilt us & go back to Oregon (and later, Philly).
We committed some hijinks to get Gruden, after firing Dungy… THAT was wild coaching search. When the dust cleared we surrendered 4 draft picks & about $8 mil…
There was nothing outlandish here. Saw a commenter over on JBF make the case that the asking price for Coen was Head Coach - and cash. Who here would have passed that opportunity?
Bucs kept the man they wanted most - so did Shad Con.
Snap & clear - move on.
Chip Kelly walked in saw Josh Freeman and walked right back outChip Kelly was going to leave Oregon to be Buccaneers HC - before he decided to jilt us & go back to Oregon (and later, Philly).
i think we are all taking this way too hard and it's not attractive
guy got something ridiculous like $12M a year for the pinnacle job each football coach covets, head coach of one of the 32 NFL franchises.
He could have sat out a year in the NFL head coach hunt and look what happened to Bobby Slowik who did that a year ago
Not that any of us could be head coaches, but put things in perspective. If you were offered the top job, 3x your salary of what you current company is offering, of a competing organization, would you not have done the same thing?
sure he went about it poorly but honestly, it's called leverage. If you ever went back to your company to "match" an offer, did you not use the other company as leverage.
Coen did what was best for him and his family and was with us for less than one calendar year.
let's toughen up Buc Fans
Meh i think for me its more the behavior shouldn't be a normal thing but it could be and kind of is already been a thing, because of comments like this and the its a bussines people. I've always been a guy who says there's probably a better way to go about it and this is one of those examples for me. This is a bigger deal for coen than it actually is for bucs fans and actually the Bucs in general yes and maybe that's your point, but again down the road an act like this could bite him in the ass or at least comes across a situation where he maybe handled this better than he did and maybe a better situation is in front of him then. This seemed a little repulsive.
Chip Kelly walked in saw Josh Freeman and walked right back outChip Kelly was going to leave Oregon to be Buccaneers HC - before he decided to jilt us & go back to Oregon (and later, Philly).
lol, I had that Simpson’s gif in my sig line forever. That thing was funny as hell.
i think we are all taking this way too hard and it's not attractive
guy got something ridiculous like $12M a year for the pinnacle job each football coach covets, head coach of one of the 32 NFL franchises.
He could have sat out a year in the NFL head coach hunt and look what happened to Bobby Slowik who did that a year ago
Not that any of us could be head coaches, but put things in perspective. If you were offered the top job, 3x your salary of what you current company is offering, of a competing organization, would you not have done the same thing?
sure he went about it poorly but honestly, it's called leverage. If you ever went back to your company to "match" an offer, did you not use the other company as leverage.
Coen did what was best for him and his family and was with us for less than one calendar year.
let's toughen up Buc Fans
Meh i think for me its more the behavior shouldn't be a normal thing but it could be and kind of is already been a thing, because of comments like this and the its a bussines people. I've always been a guy who says there's probably a better way to go about it and this is one of those examples for me. This is a bigger deal for coen than it actually is for bucs fans and actually the Bucs in general yes and maybe that's your point, but again down the road an act like this could bite him in the ass or at least comes across a situation where he maybe handled this better than he did and maybe a better situation is in front of him then. This seemed a little repulsive.
no doubt he could have handled it better
but then again, the Bucs saying, hey we will make you the highest paid OC but you cant take the interview with the Jaguars head coaching job was a bit "Corporate America" to me
we are upset because we wanted to build on the top 5 offense. It's something we haven't seen much of in Tampa, sans Brady years, but Coen didn't really do anything wrong. And there's nothing we could have done to keep him - more money and better job.
nobody will remember how he got the Jaguars job. They will remember the results on the field. That is where i think he made a mistake. The Jaguars dont have much talent with exception to Thomas Jr, maybe a few half decent running backs. Lawrence, to me, is a bust and isn't even in the top 20. He has had a Jameis Winston like career so far with his second season being his best and then dropping off. Coen will likely get 3 years but if he's stuck with Lawrence at QB and they cant win one of the weakest divisions in football, he could have a Raheem Morris like situation where his second opportunity isn't until he's 50
The problem sounds like the Bucs owners/Licht viewed this as a salary negotiation. It wasn’t.
Bottom line is, it’s over. Each team got what they bargained for and the man they wanted most.
I’ve been in the position of negotiating, similarly, for more money. Even though Ingot what I wanted (by staying), it was a mistake. I ended up leaving, two years later, for the same reasons I started looking.
The way he left doesn’t matter anymore. The Bucs were holding some cards back, the Jags weren’t. Then they threw money & some control at him. We’ll see if Coen was ready, we’ll also see if the guy the owners picked can do better without Coen.
In the end, the 2nd most productive offensive era in Bucs history, is still over.
Lets see what they bring us, now.
The problem sounds like the Bucs owners/Licht viewed this as a salary negotiation. It wasn’t.
Correct.
Coen wanted more player personnel power and he has that now in JAX.
