UCLA hires Eric Bieniemy as its new offensive coordinator | No. 1 CFB Show

Intro So at a time when we have coaches that are leaving in droves. To either not be a head coach or to go to the NFL. Eric Bieniemy has decided to accept the offensive coordinator position for Deshaun Foster at UCLA. A tremendous move and tremendous hire for Deshaun Foster because he's already starting to answer questions. Right my big question for him was, what's your staff going to look like? Because he got this job really late in the cycle, right. He is a first time head coach, former running backs coach. Eric Bieniemy And yes, he is in the UCLA Hall of fame, which makes him a Bruins fan favorite. But you only get to be the fans favorite during your first year. After that, you got to start winning and he's going to need help. So what did he do? He went to go hire what effectively is a head coach for the offense in Eric Bieniemy. So I ended up writing about Eric Bieniemy Bieniemy for Fox Sports and what it means that Deshaun Foster was able to hire a guy like him. But I think we should start here because I really think that the conversation around Bieniemy has been for the most part. About what he hasn't done as opposed to what he has done. And I think because people are much more fascinated with what he hasn't done and how it hasn't gone to plan this last year, we have forgotten just how good Eric Bienemy is at his job. So I wanted to bring back a thought. So I'm just going to say start here. OK the best quarterback of his generation is Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Mahomes credits Bieniemy with much of his success. So the quote that he gave in August of last year, talking about this being his first year without Bienemy since winning a Super Bowl. Right is that is going to be hard on you. He's going to really try to get the best out of you in every single day. He's going to hold you accountable when you don't want to hold yourself accountable. His coaching made me a better player. And if you thought it was Coach speak, he goes on. He says, there's a reason why he's coaching you the way he's coaching you. He loves you. He loves every guy that he coaches. You could see that from jamaal Charles Patrick Mahomes to Adrian Peterson to Tyreek hill, all guys to me as coach, that they understand that he loves them and he's going to try to get the best out of them each and every single day. That's Patrick Mahomes. OK that is the best quarterback in the NFL. And the thing that I think people forget as they're talking about Matt Nagy, as I'm making this point, is I'm going to give this back to you, dog. Do you know who was the offensive coordinator when Patrick Mahomes won his first Super bowl? Hit it wasn't Matt Nagy. You know who has two Super Bowl rings in four years? It's Eric Bieniemy. OK now, you might also say, hey, look, he was working for Andy Reid. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Just like Matt Nagy was working for Andy Reid. You know what I'm saying here. All right. Add to this Bieniemy was running backs coach and elevated to offensive coordinator. Right? so Andy Reid also gave that dude a shot. And I can't tell you what that means. I mean, I can because I'm living the dream. But getting your shot to do the job, ask for. And what did he do? He did the job, man. And we all thought just a year ago, Eric Bieniemy was destined to be an NFL head coach and it did not happen for him. Still trying to figure that part out because he interviewed for a bunch of jobs. He had a million conversations with people about getting a head coaching job and it never came to fruition. So he made the decision to go to the commanders, I think in part to get out from under Andy Reid's shadow and bask in his own sunlight. It just didn't go to plan. He was joining a Commanders team that was already down, right. Ron Rivera was on borrowed time. Dan Snyder was selling the team, right. Usually not a good sign for the head coach unless he goes and wins and they go 4 and 13. Right this while the enemy is trying to raise up a guy like Sam Howell ends up having to go to Jacoby Brissett. It doesn't work out. The Revere gets fired. Dan Quinn wants to bring in his own oc, which, you know, that's his prerogative. And Bieniemy was looking at being an assistant head coach and a running backs coach, not even another play caller gig. I guess we have forgotten. I'm sure we have forgotten the kind of player and Coach that Bienemy was. This is a man who grew up in Los Angeles county, was an outstanding tailback over there, spurned USC to go to Colorado. When people are like, what the hell are you doing? You could have been over here with Marcus Allen, oj Simpson, Charles white, and you chose to go to Colorado. He says, yeah, about that. I finished top 10 in the Heisman. I was unanimous All-American as a tailback at Colorado. I won big eight offensive player of the year and I rushed for 1,600 yards route to a national championship. At Colorado. Then I played nine years in the NFL. And then did a little bit of coaching. Like that's how I would talk about this, right? If there be any dog would be walking with my chest out full time all the time, you wouldn't be able to tell me nothing. I would have both Super Bowl rings on my middle fingers. That's how it would go down. So him coming to UCLA is a boon for UCLA. Now can do recruit? We don't know. We'll find out. And it's going to be like, hey dog, he's going from having Patrick Mahomes to having Ethan Garbers and Colin schlenk and Patrick Mahomes. They are not to which would tell you Patrick Mahomes and Patrick Mahomes tell Eric Bieniemy got to him. You hear what I'm saying? OK all right. Yeah, he was good. Who made him a Super Bowl winning quarterback? Who taught that man how to fly? Telling y'all man something about that dude over there? Y'all going to get it on the good foot. Now, Deshaun Foster gets to say, this is who I am. I am going to be the guy that not unlike Coach Prime and not unlike really great coaches all over this sport. I'm going to be the hype man. I'm going to make sure that everybody's pulling in the right direction. I'm going to hire people that know the game of football and I can trust them to run their sides. And I am going to Steward UCLA into the Big boy league of the Big Ten in year one. I'm really, really excited for what UCLA might be able to do here. Now, we'll see what happens with the rest of the staff. They don't actually play Ohio State in 2024. I checked. Right, because I was like, ooh, this could be juicy with Chip Kelly, Eric bieniemy, you know, two guys that were offensive coordinators, pretty damn good offensive coordinators, head coach in the NFL. If you're chip Kelly, I'm excited about that. I think that this could be a lot of fun. Now they got some work to do. We know this. I just pointed out the quarterback situation, but knowing what the enemy can do with the offense and knowing what Deshaun Foster is capable of doing and recruiting, I'd say the sky is the limit for what they can be.