“This Is What We Envisioned in January”: Jags Owner Shad Khan, HC Liam Coen’s Victory Speech Is “Enough to Make a Grown Man Cry” Claim Fans

The Jacksonville Jaguars went through a major overhaul ahead of the 2025 season, starting with head coach Doug Pederson getting the boot. General manager Trent Baalke followed, and in January, owner Shad Khan’s front office brought in Liam Coen as the new head man.

Soon after, James Gladstone was named GM, Tony Boselli took over as EVP of Football Operations, Anthony Campanile stepped in as defensive coordinator, and Grant Udinski was added as offensive coordinator. Fast forward to Week 1 of the 2025 regular season, and the changes are already paying off.

Hosting the Carolina Panthers at EverBank Stadium, the Jags pulled off a 26-10 win. The weather may have been less than kind, but the much-needed victory gave the team and its fanbase plenty to cheer about.

In the victory speech video shared on the Jaguars’ YouTube channel, the locker room atmosphere was electric. Players were celebrating, and Liam Coen walked in to loud applause, getting doused with water and Gatorade as cameras flashed and teammates hyped him up. Believe it or not, he’s only the second head coach in franchise history to win his debut game… the first being Doug Marrone back in 2017.

Coen praised his squad for establishing the run, piling up 200 rushing yards, but he also reminded them that there’s still work to be done. He stressed cleaning up mistakes and learning from them moving forward. Then Shad Khan stepped in, clearly proud to see his new plan already coming together.

“This is what we envisioned in January. It’s happening here in September, going to go on forever,” the owner said, as the room erupted in applause, hungry for more.

This is nothing short of a surreal start for the Jaguars. And fans wasted no time sharing their emotions in the comments. Some even admitted they were getting choked up while watching the team celebrate.

“I almost cried when Shad jumped in. You can see it on his face how badly he wants the Jags to succeed,” one wrote.

“Enough to make a grown man cry,” another added with a crying emoji. “Good to see smiling faces again! Duuuval!!!” a third penned.

“Chills. We got us one man. We deserve this!!!!!!” another commented.

Sure, the Jaguars caught a break this week against the lowly Panthers, but next week brings a bigger test on the road against the Bengals. Cincinnati opened with a win too, though it was a tight 17-16 squeaker over the Browns.

That leaves the door wide open for the Jags if they can clean up the turnovers and make every point count, something the Browns couldn’t do with a missed extra point and a field goal. If they manage that, Shad Khan’s grand vision might just keep rolling.