Bieniemy was a running back for the Bengals from 1995 to 1998, but before that, he was a star running back at Colorado University. While there, he ran into a bit of trouble. In his freshman year, he was involved in an
altercation at a bar where he was called a racial slur. He plead no contest to the charge and was sentence to community service. The following year, trouble continued finding Bieniemy.
Over the course of his collegiate career,
Bieniemy’s driving record was docked several times in Colorado for a multitude of minor occurrences, but they piled up to the point where he had his license suspended for a year. Months later in March, he was caught speeding in the state and was forced to post a $1,000 bond. He failed to appear for his court date for driving with a suspended license and then was faced with several weeks in jail for leaving the scene of an accident just weeks later.
“I thought once you exchanged information you could leave the scene,” Bieniemy said. “I went home and reported it to the police and then they arrested me for leaving the scene.”
On July 4th, 1990, firefighters were called to his mother’s residence after a small fire broke out due to fireworks belonging to his younger brother igniting in a plastic bag in his garage. Firefighters attempted to breach the garage wall, thinking it was an electrical fire and Bieniemy attempted to stop them from doing so.
“Since the fire was next to the wall, they thought it was electrical. I said, ‘Excuse me, sir, the fire started in the trash bag.’ I feel that if somebody is going to tear down your wall you should stop them. But basically I interfered with fire department policy.” Bieniemy explained. The incident lead to a one-game suspension for the star running back.
Bieniemy’s pro career was mostly clean from incident, but he was banned from Colorado’s campus for a year after harassing and assaulting a parking attendant working during a Colorado football game in 1993. His time coaching at Colorado upon his retirement from the NFL brought more trouble.
In 2001, Bieniemy was hired as Colorado’s running backs coach,
but was arrested in April of that year for a DUI. As a known legend in the program, Bieniemy was also a major figure in the recruiting process. During his two years there,
several rape allegations were pressed against Colorado players, and Bieniemy’s time there ended while the school was under investigation.
