Eric Bieniemy promoted to Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator

Days after Matt Nagy left to become the head coach of the Chicago Bears, the Kansas City Chiefs promoted former Colorado Buffaloes great Eric Bieniemy to be their next offensive coordinator.

“I am very grateful and honored to be sitting in this position,” Bieniemy told local media during a conference call Wednesday. “I want to thank the Hunt family, obviously (President) Mark Donovan, (general manager) Brett Veach, and Coach [Andy] Reid for trusting and believing in me as a person and as a coach. I’m excited about this opportunity, and the beauty of it is I get to go back to work with a different challenge.”

Two years after retiring following a nine-year NFL career, Bieniemy began coaching the running backs coach at his alma mater in 2001 under head coach Gary Barnett. After stints at UCLA (2003-’05) and the Minnesota Vikings (2006-’10), he returned to Boulder to run the offense under Jon Embree (2011-’12). Prior to his recent promotion, Bieniemy had been the running backs coach for the Chiefs since 2013 under Andy Reid, working with players like perennial all-pro Jamaal Charles, Spencer Ware, Charcandrick West and 2017 NFL rushing leader Kareem Hunt.

Bieniemy played for Colorado from 1987-1990, leading the Buffs to a national title in his final season in Boulder while finishing third in the Heisman Trophy voting. His career 3,940 rushing yards and 41 touchdowns on 699 attempts are the most ever by a Buffaloes player.