Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen made one of the most important hires of his life earlier this offseason, selecting Anthony Campanile as his defensive coordinator for his first year as an NFL head coach.
With Coen set to completely oversee the Jaguars’ offense and act as play-caller in the process, Campanile is set to have full autonomy over the defensive side of the ball.
But what exactly was it about the Jaguars and Coen that inspired Campanile to take the leap to coordinator and leave behind a great situation with the Green Bay Packers? Campanile explained to Jaguars’ J.P. Shadrick.
“Really, honestly, the biggest thing was, I felt really good about the roster here. Felt really good about the people here, my relationship with Liam. You know, that was awesome,” Campanile said.
“The whole interview process was awesome. The other thing is just, it’s a tough city, you know, there’s tough people here, and we’re going to have a tough defense. So to me, that was an important part of it, you know, the following of the fans. So just super excited for the whole thing.”
The cupboard is certainly not bare for Campanile, who will be able to hit the ground running with defenders like Josh Hines-Allen, Travon Walker, Tyson Campbell, Foye Oluokun, and Arik Armstead.
There is also the Coen factor — while Campanile and Coen have not served on a staff together, each has experience coaching at the college and NFL level at similar time frames.
“We’ve known each other for quite a while, just working camps up in the northeast, coaching football in college, I should say. But yeah, known each other over the years and kind of kept up with each other. And obviously he’s done an incredible job everywhere he’s been,” Campanile said.
Now, Campanile is set to lead a Jaguars unit that was near the bottom of the NFL last year. It will take a good coaching job to turn it around, but he might be the man for the job.
“He’s one of the best, most loyal people I’ve ever been around,” Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said last season about Campanile. “He’s one of the best football coaches I’ve ever been around. I’m glad, very glad that he’s here. I think you guys (journalists) will enjoy him. More importantly, I think the players are gonna love him and that’s really important as we build this staff.”
