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UCLA football has hired former Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy as its new associate head coach/offensive coordinator on a two-year deal, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Pete Thamel.
Bieniemy will work under new UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster, and he spoke about the opportunity in a text to CBS Sports Senior NFL Insider Josina Anderson and NFL writer Garrett Podell.
“This is a great opportunity for me to help support DeShaun as a new head coach, to work with him and for him as well. I chose to fly under the radar during this hiring process, and my experience generated a lot of interest from a number of NFL teams prior to coming to this decision.”
Bieniemy, who starred at Colorado as a running back before playing in the NFL from 1991-1999, notably won two Super Bowls as the Chiefs’ OC in 2019 and 2022.
Bieniemy left the Chiefs to become the Washington Commanders’ assistant head coach / offensive coordinator in 2023 under Ron Rivera. Washington fired Rivera after the 2023 season, leaving Bieniemy looking for new opportunities.
He told CBS Sports that two NFL teams showed interest for him to be their new offensive coordinator. Washington also interviewed for the Commanders’ head coaching gig before they rolled with Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.
Ultimately, Bieniemy is going back to college, where he coached from 2001-2005 and again in 2011-2012.
Bieniemy was Colorado’s running backs coach in 2001 and 2002 before taking the same job with UCLA in 2003 and 2004. He added recruiting coordinator to his duties in 2005 before beginning his NFL coaching career in 2006 as the Minnesota Vikings’ running backs coach.
Five years later, Bieniemy went back to Colorado as its OC, but Reid then hired him as the Chiefs’ running backs coach in 2013. Five years later, he got promoted to OC when his predecessor, Matt Nagy, left to become the Chicago Bears’ head coach.
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