Bucs Refuse to Let Jaguars Interview Anyone Else After Liam Coen Debacle

Fool the Tampa Bay Buccaneers once, shame on you. Fool the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice... you're not stealing anymore coaches so just forget about it!

The Bucs have blocked multiple requests by the Jacksonville Jaguars to interview anymore of their coaches this week. Earlier this week the Jags tried to interview offensive line coach Kevin Carberry, but were denied.

The #Jaguars requested to interview #Bucs offensive line coach Kevin Carberry for a similar role but were blocked by Tampa Bay, per sources.

New head coach Liam Coen, former Bucs OC, had success with Carberry last year and looked into bringing him along.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 30, 2025

Undeterred, new Jaguars coach Liam Coen and the organization moved down the line and requested an interview with assistant offensive line coach Brian Picucci, according to Adam Schefter. Again, they were denied.

No favors: Buccaneers blocked Jacksonville’s request to interview its assistant offensive line coach, Brian Picucci, who left Kentucky with Liam Coen to go to Tampa. Jags were able to hire Coen, but not Picucci.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 31, 2025

Neither Carberry or Picucci entered the offseason as a hot name. Having worked with Coen during a successful season in Tampa, it made sense that Coen would have wanted one or both of them for his new staff in Jacksonville.

Picucci followed Coen from Kentucky to Tampa last season. According to the Kentucky Wildcats website, Picucci was coaching at UMass while Coen was the starting quarterback from 2004 to 2008. Before last season Carberry and Coen had been on the same staff with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022

While this may not be as high-profile a story as the Cowboys ghosting the Bears when they wanted to interview Mike McCarthy before letting him walk, this has to be considered a similar level of petty. Coaches follow other coaches who take new jobs all the time. The Bucs forcing two offensive line coaches loyal to the guy who just left to stay is a fascinating decision.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful feud between the two Florida teams, but with no games between them until 2027 who knows if anyone involved will still be employed by then.