After a single season back in the collegiate coaching ranks following more than a decade of success and Super Bowl experience in the National Football League, Eric Bieniemy will soon find himself wondering what's next in his professional coaching journey.
On Thursday, UCLA made the announcement that they were parting ways with Bieniemy as their offensive coordinator after only one year on the sidelines.
Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports broke the news that Bieniemy was being fired after the Bruins finished among the worst offenses in college football in 2024.
It will be interesting to see where Eric Bieniemy will end up at this point.
UCLA is making a change at offensive coordinator. Eric Bieniemy is out, sources tell @YahooSports. Bruins finished 117th in total offense this season.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) December 5, 2024
Bieniemy's employment history is its own future 30 for 30 entry for the mysteries it holds and the questions that must be asked. For years, Bieniemy was a highly-praised member of Andy Reid's coaching staff on a team with one of the most dominant NFL offenses in a generation. His players sang his praises and he was affable and engaging with the media.
During his time with the Kansas City Chiefs, Bieniemy served as an important coach and mentor to some of the NFL's most dynamic offensive players and weapons from Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce, and his Super Bowl rings should have earned him incredible opportunities as an up-and-coming member of Andy Reid's coaching tree.
Somehow, however, despite working his way up from positional coach to the coordinator level for a half-decade, Bieniemy could never earn a head coaching opportunity despite interviewing with more than one-half of the league's franchises. Some teams even gave him multiple rounds of interviews after having fired the first coach they hired instead.
When multiple seasons of opportunities passed him by, Bieniemy decided to leave the Chiefs when his contract was up for a lateral move to the Washington Commanders. He'd last only a single season before Washington cleared house of Ron Rivera's staff. From there, he went back to the collegiate level with UCLA to join Deshaun Foster's staff only for his post to last a single season.
Will Bieniemy take his act back to the NFL? Will the Chiefs leave a door open of some kind? Will his alma mater of Colorado step in with an opportunity? Or will Bieniemy take some time away? It's impossible to tell at this point what will happen, but that's been true of Bieniemy's journey for quite some time.