Sources: Bieniemy nearing deal to be UCLA’s OC
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Pete Thamel
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Adam Schefter
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Adam Schefter
ESPN Senior Writer
- ESPN NFL Insider
- Joined ESPN in 2009
- Former president of the Pro Football Writers of America and the author of four books
Former Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is finalizing a two-year deal to join UCLA‘s staff as the Bruins’ associate head coach/offensive coordinator, sources told ESPN on Saturday night.
The move marks a significant hire for new UCLA coach DeShaun Foster, who intends to forge an NFL identity with the Bruins. It also marks a homecoming for Bieniemy, who grew up in the area and was a Bruins assistant from 2003 to 2005.
“Southern California,” Bieniemy wrote in an email Saturday. “I attended high school there. I started my career in the league here [with the Chargers]. It’s obviously great to be back with the Bruins, where I was previously employed.”
Bieniemy had opportunities to remain in the NFL. He interviewed for the Commanders’ head-coaching job and two other offensive coordinator jobs. Bieniemy said one NFL team offered him its assistant head coach/running backs job. But ultimately, he took his time and found his way back to school.
“I have had countless conversations and interviews with many teams, and I have been applauded and lauded,” Bieniemy wrote. “I can’t say why certain decisions were or were not made but it had nothing to [do] with a lack of anything on my end.
“My self-dignity, worth, integrity, personhood, manhood will never be questioned or compromised. It is not always about money, either. With everything in life, it is often all about timing. At this time in my life, the opportunity affords me the pleasure of continuing to be a maker and leader of men, to do what I love, follow my passion and my dreams while not compromising on who I am as a man.”
This will be Bieniemy’s first college job since working as Colorado‘s offensive coordinator from 2011 to 2012. Foster prioritized hiring a coach with Bieniemy’s experience — and Bieniemy was equally as excited about trying to help UCLA’s rookie head coach.
Foster does not have coordinator experience. By bringing in someone with Bieniemy’s breadth of experience, he has begun to set the vision of what UCLA will look like on that side of the ball. Former head coach Chip Kelly served as UCLA’s offensive playcaller in recent seasons.
“This is a great opportunity for me to help support DeShaun as a head coach, to work with him and to work for him as well,” Bieniemy wrote. “My goal is to help him to be a successful head coach in our profession.
“It’s an opportunity for my family and I to return back to a place that we once called home.”
Bieniemy brings 16 years of NFL experience to the Bruins. He spent the 2023 season as the Commanders’ offensive coordinator and won two Super Bowls as the Kansas City Chiefs‘ offensive coordinator, a role he held from 2018 to 2022.
As a coach who went to five straight conference championship games that included three Super Bowl appearances in that span, Bieniemy believes he brings a lot to the Bruins that can translate on the recruiting trail.
“My goal is to help generate some excitement for potential student-athletes to consider attending UCLA as we collectively prepare for the move to the Big Ten Conference in recruiting,” he wrote.
Other coaches have gone from the NFL back to college and succeeded. Bieniemy pointed out that Nick Saban, Jim Harbaugh, Bill O’Brien and Kliff Kingsbury did it. Now he is doing the same, leaving the NFL and going back to school, with an eye of conquering his new world.
“I have no regrets with the Commanders,” Bieniemy wrote. “Contrary to what some think and what has been put out in the media, I was not fired. I actually just chose not to stay. Learned a lot and that is always a good thing.
“I will continue my walk in my peace. I’m excited to be here and to coach these young men and football again. My expectations and desire to be excellent will never be turned down. I’m fired up. Let’s go.”
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
One of the top offensive linemen in the transfer portal has found a new home.
Former Arkansas tackle Andrew Chamblee has committed to SMU, he told ESPN. He’s the No. 6 overall player in ESPN’s transfer portal rankings. At Arkansas in 2023, he earned freshman All-SEC honors.
Chamblee was an ESPN 300 recruit and ranked as the No. 2 overall prospect in Arkansas in 2022. He’s 6-foot-6, 300 pounds and started eight games last season as a redshirt freshman. He’ll have three years of eligibility remaining.
Chamblee marks the 20th power conference transfer that SMU has taken since the opening of the December transfer portal and is arguably the most decorated of all of them. He’s the second offensive lineman from Arkansas, as interior lineman Paris Patterson committed to SMU in recent days.
SMU is coming off an 11-3 season that saw them finish the year ranked No. 22 in the Associated Press postseason poll. SMU enters the ACC next season, a move powered by the school’s wealthy boosters and ambitions to stay relevant in the changing college football landscape.
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
Snoop Dogg is getting into the college football bowl business with a historic sponsorship that recognizes his 1993 hit song and recent beverage line with Dr. Dre, “Gin & Juice.”
The rapper on Monday revealed the new Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop, announcing his intent “to bring the juice back to college football.” The game, previously sponsored by Barstool Sports, will take place Dec. 28 in Tucson, Arizona, and pair teams from the Mountain West and Mid-American conferences.
The partnership marks the first with an alcohol product as the presenting sponsor of an NCAA-sanctioned bowl game. In February, the new beverage company introduced “Gin & Juice” as their first ready-to-drink product — a nod to Snoop Dogg’s hit from the album “Doggystyle,” produced by Dr. Dre and Death Row Records.
“The Arizona Bowl is bringing sports, libations and entertainment into a singular bowl game, and we are changing the definition of what a brand partnership is in the NCAA,” Kym Adair, executive director of the Arizona Bowl, said in a statement.
PlayFly Premier Partnerships, a sports media and marketing company that has worked with the Arizona Bowl since 2021, finalized the agreement between Snoop Dogg and the bowl game.
“College football fans are exhausted by the constant talk around NIL, conference realignment, coach movement, transfer portal and super conferences, so it’s time that we get back to the roots of college football,” Snoop Dogg said in announcing the partnership on social media. “When it was focused on the colleges, the players, the competition, the community, the fan experience and the pageantry. … So it’s only fitting that I step up and get this thing right.”
Snoop Dogg has long been involved in football, launching the Snoop Youth Football League in 2005 and often attending USC practices and games. His son Cordell Broadus initially signed to play wide receiver at UCLA but ended up stepping away from the sport.
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