3 things to know about Kentucky football offensive coordinator Liam Coen

LEXINGTON - Kentucky football's record-setting 2021 season was thanks in part to a new-look offense build by coordinator Liam Coen. Here is what you need to know about the former Los Angeles Rams assistant, who has been linked with a return to the NFL

1. Liam Coen is a disciple of Sean McVay

Coen, 35, worked on the Rams' staff for the three seasons before coming to Kentucky, first as the team's assistant wide receivers coach. He was named assistant quarterbacks coach prior to the 2020-21 season

"I think bringing people from the NFL has worked for me before," UK coach Mark Stoops said after hiring Coen. "I really liked how detailed he was. The biggest area that needs improvement for us is the quarterbacks and receivers, and he has expertise in both of those areas and worked with both groups in the NFL. That was very attractive to me."

Working with Rams coach Sean McVay, Coen has been a part of one of the NFL's most exciting offenses. His first year on the staff coincided with the Rams' run to the 2019 Super Bowl. The Rams are currently tied for first place in the NFC West at 9-4 and rank fifth in the NFL in yards per game (389.4).

"I believe that truly marrying the run and the pass is something I’ve learned is such an advantage in winning for us here," Coen said. "We’ve run the football effectively, but all of our play-actions and keepers and movements and things like that are directly married to the run game that we’re able to utilize here."

Liam Coen: Drawing plays since 4 years old, new Kentucky offensive coordinator has football in his blood

2. Liam Coen comes from a football family

Coen's grandfather, Phillip Coen, was a team captain for Boston College in the early 1950s and an assistant coach at Brown. His father, Tim Coen, helped build the program at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, where he went 53-12 in seven seasons as the coach before taking the job at La Salle Academy in Rhode Island order to coach Liam.

“I get the opportunity to coach my son,” Tim told the Courier Journal in December. “It was like the greatest time. … So much fun coaching your kid, especially when he loves the game.”

The fact that Liam eventually developed into a high school and college football star came as little surprise to his father.

Tim remembers Liam drawing a perfect wishbone formation at 4 years old. On nights when Tim would watch television, Liam would demand his dad throw him a football as he ran routes across the living room and dove on the ground. The father and son would spend hours in the backyard throwing passes to each other, teaching Liam how to lead a receiver and throw on the move.

"It’s just what he wanted to do,” Tim said. “Instead of watching Winnie the Pooh like all his buddies, he would watch my team’s high school film. You’d hear him in the other room (calling plays) … Almost like even before it would even happen he knew it was coming, because he’d watched the film so many times.”

Kentucky football: Three things to know about Kavosiey Smoke, one of college football's best names

3. Liam Coen was a star quarterback at UMass

Together, Tim and Liam led La Salle to four consecutive Rhode Island Division I Super Bowls. Liam threw for more than 5,000 yards and 66 touchdowns across his last three seasons there to earn a scholarship offer at UMass, where he would go on to break almost every one of the program’s career passing records.

As a sophomore, Liam led UMass to the I-AA national championship game. He entered his senior season with dreams of making the unlikely jump from college football’s second tier to the NFL, but an elbow injury as a senior prevented him from throwing regularly.

Kentucky football: What does the Rams-Bengals Super Bowl have to do with UK? It's on the tape

Despite projections that he might be taken by an NFL team in the late rounds of the 2009 NFL draft, Coen did not even receive any free agent contract offers. Word about his injury had gotten out, and his playing career was finished.

Football was not done with Liam, though. In 2010, he was hired as quarterbacks coach at Brown. He spent three seasons there, sandwiched around one season at Rhode Island, before returning to UMass as passing game coordinator.

Email Jon Hale at jahale@courier-journal.com; Follow him on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Liam Coen: Three things to know about Rams OC candidate