Report: Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy a candidate for USC opening
from Zac Wassink, at YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
The USC Trojans need a new football head coach following Clay Helton’s firing on Monday, and the program has been linked in stories with a wide variety of candidates such as Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer and James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions.
A current NFL offensive coordinator who played in the league, earned a Super Bowl ring as an assistant and coached in a second title game, and helped quarterback Patrick Mahomes develop into a generational talent may be interested in the gig.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is expected to emerge as a candidate for the USC job:
League sources believe Chiefs' OC Eric Bieniemy will emerge as a head-coaching candidate for USC. Bieniemy is from Southern California and has told confidantes in the past, that USC is one of the only college jobs that might interest him.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 14, 2021
Many were surprised earlier this year to see another NFL offseason come and go without a franchise hiring Bieniemy as its head coach, and he admitted in June he was “a little disappointed” not to receive one of the available jobs this past winter. He’s widely respected as, at worst, one of the NFL’s best coordinators, and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has repeatedly campaigned for a team to hire his top assistant.
Reid joked in January he “hoped” Bieniemy would complete such a transition by going to an NFC team, but Bieniemy making a move to USC would be even better for everyone associated with Kansas City.