New Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy says now is not the time to talk about becoming a head coach.
At his introductory press conference in Washington today, Bieniemy said it wouldn’t be fair to the Commanders or his players if he were focusing right now on his desire to be a head coach.
“Right now I’m the offensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders,” Bieniemy said. “Being a head coach, if that’s to happen it will take care of itself. We’ve had a great deal of success. We went to five straight AFC Championship Games, three out of four Super Bowls, two out of those we won. Being a head coach, it hasn’t happened, it’s not anything that’s going to impact me moving forward because the only thing I need to be concerned with is what’s important today.
“Today, I’ve got to be the best person I can be, I’ve got to be the best coach I can be, and on top of that, I’ve got to get these guys in this building to learn to trust me, to get to know me, but also to understand what the term accountability means. I have to be accountable to these men. All that stuff about being a head coach, we can talk about that next year some time. Right now I need to focus on the job at hand.”
Despite the Chiefs’ success with Bieniemy as their offensive coordinator the last five years, Bieniemy has been repeatedly passed over for head-coaching jobs. A good season for the offense in Washington could earn Bieniemy a head-coaching job a year from now, but Bieniemy says that is not his focus at the moment.