I am not vouching for the accuracy or validity of the below information, just snippets I found sniffing around sports sites are somewhat concerning. To be fair, these incidents seem to all be around 2001 or earlier which was a long time ago. But some pretty serious *alleged* lapses in judgment. A common thread seems to be perhaps a problem with alcohol and managing his temper. Perhaps that's all well behind him, I don't know - not sure he's a good fit on a franchise still trying to recover from decades of sexual abuse and harassment? And the way that Logan Paulsen described his coaching style sounds like someone with an overly aggressive personality and communication style. Makes me nervous.
Some of what's out there:
Lost in his success with the Kansas City Chiefs is
Eric Bieniemy’s rap sheet of poor decision-making:
- February 1998: According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Colorado police arrested Bieniemy and teammate Kanavis McGhee after a bar fight. Bieniemy was charged with disorderly conduct and fighting in public, but he pleaded no contest. He and McGhee received deferred sentences and performed court-mandated community service.
- July 4, 1990: According to the Orlando Sentinel, Bienemy pleaded no contest after allegedly shoving a firefighter. The University of Colorado Boulder suspended Bieniemy for one game in the upcoming season.
- September 1993: Colorado police arrested Bieniemy, then in the NFL. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Bieniemy allegedly grabbed a female parking attendant by the neck and threatened her. The University of Colorado Boulder banned Bieniemy from its campus for one year as a result.
- April 2001: According to the Daily Bruin, Colorado police arrested Bieniemy on a DUI charge, three months after he joined the football staff as a running back coach. He previously had his driver’s license suspended after numerous violations.
- Bieniemy was also linked to allegations that Colorado’s football program “used alcohol and sex to lure recruits.” ESPN reported in 2004 that the university discovered there was evidence of drugs and alcohol being used to “entice recruits,” but no university officials were guilty of misconduct.
Legal issues
As a player at Colorado, Bieniemy was arrested along with teammate
Kanavis McGhee following a February 1988 bar fight. McGhee said the dispute arose after Bieniemy alleged that he had been called a "little n*gger" by a bar patron.
[12] He pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct and fighting in public, and was sentenced to community service.
[12] Bieniemy also received discipline from head coach
Bill McCartney.
[12]
In 1989, Bieniemy was ticketed in
Westminster, Colorado for driving a defective vehicle, and in
Aurora, Colorado for speeding. In October 1990, his license was suspended for a year after another traffic violation. On March 21, 1991, Bieniemy was caught speeding and driving with suspended license on
I-70 near
Rifle, Colorado, going 92 mph in a 65 mph zone. On April 17, 1991, Bieniemy failed to appear in court on charges relating to the March 21 incident. A bench warrant was issued in Colorado for his arrest on April 23, 1991, two days after Bieniemy was drafted in the
1991 NFL Draft.
[13]
On July 4, 1990, Bieniemy pleaded no contest to interfering with a firefighter who had been performing his duties to extinguish a fire in Bieniemy's mother's garage.
[13] Bieniemy received an eight-month suspended sentence
[14] and was suspended for one game.
[15] Bieniemy was instructed to do 40 hours of community service and attend an eight-hour firefighting training session.
[13] An assistant city attorney said that Bieniemy failed to attend the firefighting training session as stipulated in the plea agreement, but Bieniemy asserted the session was optional.
[13]
On September 27, 1993, Bieniemy was arrested in Boulder, Colorado, for allegedly harassing a female parking attendant. According to the police report, while with his friends, Bieniemy put his hand on the attendant's neck, startling her. She told police ,"
[14] that Bieniemy and his friends took off their pants and began urinating nearby. Bieniemy was also named in an outstanding warrant on a charge of driving with a suspended license. As a result of this incident, Bieniemy was banned from the University of Colorado Boulder campus for one year.
[6][16]
In April 2001, Bieniemy was arrested for driving under the influence and was docked a month's pay.
[17]
Bieniemy Was at the Center of a Coaching Scandal
Another reason why Bieniemy may not get past Round 1 of interviews could surround the scandal that struck Colorado while he was their RBs coach. Though the news of the scandal didn’t hit until he was a few years into his next stop — at UCLA as both a running backs coach and recruiting coordinator — the incidents described overlap with his time there.
Several recruits and Colorado football players attended parties where women were allegedly sexually assaulted, though most of the specific charges were dropped by the prosecution in favor of a broader one for “creating a hostile environment for women,” alleging that recruits were promised sex at the party.
More concretely, the Boulder District Attorney
accused the University of using illegal drugs, prostitution, and providing alcohol to minors in their recruitment efforts. It is unclear whether Bieniemy had a role or knowledge in any of this, but he was
heavily involved in the overall recruiting process, a reason he was given the title of recruiting coordinator at UCLA along with his position as running backs coach.
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