It’s one and done again for Eric Bieniemy, as the 2023 Commanders offensive coordinator has been fired after one season in the same role at UCLA – a move that his agent confirmed and said was ‘planned.’
“Eric and UCLA mutually parted ways today as previously planned,” Jason Fletcher, Bieniemy’s agent, told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
“After interviewing for head coaching jobs last year, he wanted to stay active and busy. So, he decided to go help out DeShaun Foster, who is like his little brother, at UCLA as opposed to sitting out a year. The plan was always to return to the NFL in 2025, and he’s looking forward to the opportunities ahead.”
Foster and Bieniemy know each other as they are both from the Los Angeles area, but their partnership ends less than a week after UCLA concluded a 5-7 season that saw them average just 18.4 points per game (126th out of 134 FBS teams) and rank 117th in total offense, finishing 14th in their first season in the now 18-team Big Ten.
Bieniemy was the OC and associate head coach under Foster, who took over as head coach at his alma mater this year after spending 10 of his 11 years in the coaching ranks with the Bruins (he spent 2016 as Kliff Kingsbury’s RB coach at Texas Tech) and the last seven as running backs coach.
And so, this was his second straight one season and out job, as he of course joined the Commanders as OC in 2023 and was not retained on Dan Quinn’s staff after Ron Rivera was let go.
Ironically, Kansas City’s offense, which ranked lower than third only once in Bieniemy’s five years as OC, has drastically declined since he left, but the ’23 Commanders ranked 24th in total offense and 23rd in points, and now this at UCLA.