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Offensive Coordinator


On December 5th, 2010, along with new head Coach Jon Embree, the University of Colorado announced the return of one of its' all time greats. Eric Bieniemy is a name much like Head Coach Embree's that is very well known from the McCartney era and the glory days of Colorado Football. Eric returns to CU as offensive coordinator on Coach Embree's new staff after approximately a seven year absence where he coached at UCLA and for the Vikings in the NFL. Eric returns as the highest paid coordinator in CU's history and with an extensive professional and college coaching resumes dotted with a number of on field and recruiting successes.

Family Life:
Coach Bieniemy was born in Louisiana and gives a connection to what had been a fertile recruiting base for Colorado in during the McCartney years. As a young child he moved to LA where he starred at Bishop Amat High School before being recruited to play at The University of Colorado. Eric is married to Mia Maxie and has two sons Eric III and Elijah.

Eric Bienemy the player:
Bishop Amat High School - Eric lettered in track and field, was a second team All-American and rushed for 2,000 yards and 30 touchdowns as a senior.
The University of Colorado - Bieniemy's footprints are all over the CU record book, as he remains the school's all-time leader in rushing (3,940 yards), all-purpose yards (4,351), and touchdowns (42). He was the nation's second leading rusher in 1990 with 1,628 yards, along with 17 touchdowns, when he finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting that year behind BYU's Ty Detmer (the winner) and Notre Dame's Raghib Ismail.[2] In 1990, Bieniemy earned consensus All-America honors. He was a two-time first-team all Big-Eight performer, in 1988 and in 1990, earning the conference's offensive player-of-the-year honor as a senior. As a junior, he was named to CU's prestigious 25-member "All-Century Football Team," the only active player at the time to be selected to the group honoring the first 100 years of Colorado Buffalo football.
NFL Career - Played from 1991 till 1999, finishing his career with 1589 yards rushing, 1223 yards receiving, 276 yards returning punts, 1,621 yards on kickoff returns, and 12 touchdowns (11 rushing and 1 kickoff return) while playing for the San Diego Chargers, Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles.

Coaching Career:
Early Career - Bieniemy, 36, served as an assistant at Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver in the fall of 2000, prior to his return to Colorado.
Colorado Coaching Career - Bieniemy had a tremendous impact right from the start in his first year on the Colorado staff, as the Buffs finished eighth in the nation in rushing, averaging 228.5 yards per game. The tailbacks and fullbacks combined for 2,620 yards, the most yards out of all the running back positions in college football for 2001. In 2002, the Colorado backfield combined for over 3,000 yards to lead the nation. Tailback Chris Brown ranked third in the nation that year with a 153.4 yards per game average.
UCLA Coaching Career - Coach Bieniemy joined UCLA in 2003 after departing Colorado, and had almost an immediate impact there. In the 2003 season, UCLA's Drew earned third-team Freshman All-America honors as a kick returner/running back after rushing for almost 600 yards and scoring two touchdowns on kickoff returns. 2004 saw even more improvement as Maurice Jones-Drew became just the 10th back in UCLA history to go over the 1,000 yard mark and set a school single game rushing record of 322 yards against UW. He continued his success into his Jr year setting an all-time NCAA record for punt return average. Coach Bieniemy was also able to squeeze the most productive season of Manuel White's career out of him the same year rushing for 750 yards and grabbing 20 receptions. At the close of the 2005 season Eric Departed for the Pro's where he joined the Minnesota Vikings.
Vikings Career - Bieniemy landed his 1st NFL coaching position with the Vikings in 2006 and responded by guiding a 1,000-yard rusher in all 4 seasons with Minnesota and helping Vikings RBs break the 100-yard mark 26 times in 64 regular season games, making the Vikings ground game one of the most productive int he NFL and helping to lead the Vikings to 2 NFC north titles in 4 complete seasons.

Notable Players Coached or recruited:
Maurice Jones-Drew - Became just the 10th back in UCLA history to go over the 1,000 yard mark and set a school single game rushing record of 322 yards and 5 touchdowns against UW.
Chris Brown - Averaged 153 YPG in his JR season, holds the CU single game touchdown record with 6 in a 62-36 mauling of then No. 1 Nebraska.
Adrian Peterson - Most 200 yard games as a rookie, second ever rookie probowl MVP, single game rushing record (296), Rookie of the year, 3 time All-Pro, 4 time Pro-Bowler

Non-Allbuffs.com Sources:
Vikings Bio
Wikipedia
UCLA Bio
Official Pres Release