Former coach insists that Dallas Cowboys team didn’t accomplished significant.
Eric Bieniemy Strange Claim: ‘I Was Not Fired!’ by Cowboys Ex Coach Dan Quinn
Eric Bieniemy Strange Claim: ‘I Was Not Fired!’
FRISCO – Eric Bieniemy has a reputation for “toughness” … which at this moment seems to be morphing into “stubbornness.”
“Contrary to what some think and what has been put out in the media, I was not fired,” Bieniemy said this weekend upon making a move out of the NFC to take a job at UCLA. “I actually just chose not to stay.”
This sort of spin is a common face-saving move – but it usually involves cooperation between the two parties involved in the divorce … the coach and his team. In this case, new Washington coach Dan Quinn was polite but clear in his decision to “part ways” (as involved parties like to put it) with Bieniemy, who had served as Washington’s offensive coordinator in 2023 and was under contract for 2024.
“I think he’s an excellent coach,” Quinn said shortly after his arrival in D.C. as he jumped from the Dallas Cowboys. “I had a chance to visit with him … We’re not going to work together here, but in this coaching brotherhood, I wanted him to know, man, I really respect the work that he’s done … I wish EB nothing but the best and he’ll do a great job.”
In other words, Quinn, who later hired Kliff Kingsbury to serve as his offensive coordinator, dismissed Bieniemy. There is no shame in that. It’s part of the business. So why is Bieniemy insisting it never happened?
“I have had countless conversations and interviews with many teams, and I have been applauded and lauded,” Bieniemy said pridefully. “My self-dignity, worth, integrity, personhood, manhood will never be questioned or compromised. … The opportunity affords me the pleasure of continuing to be a maker and leader of men, to do what I love, follow my passion and my dreams while not compromising on who I am as a man.”
“I will continue my walk in peace.”
That’s a wonderful collection of sentiments. But is he suggesting that Quinn “questioned or compromised” his “self-dignity, worth, integrity, personhood, manhood”? Why can’t a dismissal simply be a dismissal?
“I have been applauded and lauded” comes across as a thin-skinned defense against the criticism the Commanders earned in his one season there. … and “thin-skinned” is a weird look for a coach who prides himself on no-nonsense toughness – which by the way not all of his Commanders players bought into … at all.
Why’d Whitt Leave Dallas For Commanders?
Read More
Is it possible that after Quinn took over as head coach, he considered retaining Bieniemy in a lesser role? And that marks to EB a “questioning of his worth”?
In addition to having hired Kliff Kingsbury as his new offensive coordinator, Quinn also now employs former Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn and former Eagles coordinator Brian Johnson on his offensive staff … all charged with fixing something that Bieniemy could not fix.
There is no need to be embarrassed by that. Bieniemy in Washington didn’t work out. But his departure isn’t the result of misinformation that “has been put out in the media.” It’s the result of Dan Quinn choosing to not keep him on as his top offensive assistant.
And so now both sides “continue their walk in peace” in opposite directions.
