Former Kansas City Chiefs running back LeSean McCoy appeared on the “I Am Athlete” show on Sirius XM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio earlier this week. Toward the end of the show, McCoy brought up Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.
McCoy held back no punches and when explaining why Bieniemy has yet to become an NFL head coach.
"“There’s a reason why every year they keep hyping him up to get a coaching job, a head coach or offensive coordinator job somewhere else and he doesn’t get one because .. some players, he talks to them a certain way. Some players would take it. I didn’t want to take it. … There’s a reason why every year they hype him up to get a job, and then when the time comes, nobody hires him because they know the type of coach he really is.”"
The hosts of the show were both interested. However, McCoy could not elaborate on this topic because there was a minute left before the hosts had to end the show.
One host asked McCoy if Bieniemy was the reason why he left Kansas City and McCoy confirmed that. McCoy also said that race is not a factor as to why Bieniemy is not getting a head coaching job.
It’s unclear exactly what happened between Bieniemy and McCoy that led McCoy, who reunited with Andy Reid in Kansas City after being drafted by him in Philadelphia, to make these comments. McCoy’s activity dropped significantly. He played just one snap in the divisional round in the playoffs the year the Chiefs won the Super Bowl while being inactive in the other two games. However, McCoy was inactive for one game and played just a total of two snaps the following postseason when he was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So it’s unlikely that was the reason.
Bieniemy has been the offensive coordinator for the most successful offense the past four seasons. The fact that he hasn’t received a head coaching job becomes a bigger deal every year. Many wondered if race was the reason, which McCoy denied in the interview. Some believed since Bieniemy is not the play-caller, that could play a factor in not getting a head coaching job. However, that was shut down this offseason when non-play callers, like Mike McDaniel and Kevin O’Connell became head coaches.
There are a lot of unconfirmed rumors about the final play of the first half and the halftime drama from the AFC Championship loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. McCoy was obviously not there when it happened, so he did not mention that specific incident.
Had McCoy mentioned this earlier in the radio show, it would have been interesting for him to expand on this and the follow-up questions from the host. Unfortunately, he brought this up with time running out in the show. However, there is always social media, which many go to when they need to expand or clarify a comment they made during an interview.
McCoy played just one season in Kansas City, which was during their Super Bowl run. He rushed for 465 yards and four touchdowns as a Chief and was responsible for 646 total yards from scrimmage and 5 touchdowns total.