Al's owner has
good feeling about new coach
Jan. 29, 2008
Montreal Alouettes owner Robert Wetenhall admits he has
taken a risk with the hiring of Marc Trestman -- devoid
of Canadian Football League and head-coaching
experience. But Wetenhall said he had a good feeling
about Trestman from their first meeting, and remains
confident he and the team will prosper this season.
"I've put my reputation behind (Trestman). I've put it
out there," Wetenhall said. "I would bet my judgment on
Trestman. It didn't take me more than 15 minutes to make
up my mind."
Trestman, who has a wealth of experience at the National
Football League and NCAA university level, was named the
Als' 19th head coach on Dec. 18. Trestman's hiring was
in sharp contrast to the decision, one year earlier, to
allow general manager Jim Popp to remain Montreal's
coach after he replaced Don Matthews in October 2006.
On that occasion, no other candidates were interviewed.
The Als slumped to 8-10 -- their only losing record
since the franchise returned to Montreal in 1996. Popp
has now returned to his GM and director of player
personnel roles, while the club has rehired former
Hamilton GM Marcel Desjardins as his assistant.
Wetenhall was actively involved in the extensive
interview process this time, talking to at least 12
candidates. He met Trestman twice -- first for more than
two hours and then for seven hours a week later at the
owner's downtown condo.
Wetenhall said he was impressed by Trestman's sense of
quality and standards.
"He talked about players and not himself," Wetenhall
remembered. "One of the most interesting things he said
was that he evaluates players' character and integrity.
Down the list were athletic skills. It fascinated me.
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/sports/story.html?id=f1abb622-f63d-4a0b-9e61-c1fd76517e6e
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Humble Trestman
perfect fit for Als
Jan. 10, 2008
 Since
this seems to be nostalgia week around here, we'll go
back to 1970 by way of introducing the Alouettes' new
head coach.
That was the year a chap named Freeman White came to
Canada to play for the Ottawa Rough Riders. This, I
thought, should be some show: White had been an
All-American wide receiver for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
He was a senior when
I was a freshman at Nebraska, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound
pass-snagger to make pro scouts drool.
White was drafted by the New York Giants and spent four
years in New York before ending up in Ottawa. When I saw
that he was playing in the CFL, I thought White would
light it up.
One season, and he was gone.
White, of course, was neither the first nor the last of
many: Americans who come up here from the NFL or from
big college football programs thinking they will show
this little league a thing or two. More often than not,
they get their comeuppance in a hurry. Think of Vince
Ferragamo, another former Husker who had gone to a Super
Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams. With the Alouettes,
Ferragamo flamed out in spectacular fashion.
 Point
is, if you come to the CFL thinking it's a bush league
that you're going to dazzle with your big-time American
talent, you're going to get burned. The CFL, as too many
athletes and coaches learn the hard way, is a terrific
and highly competitive league in terms of its players'
athleticism and the pressure to win. If it's somehow
lesser than the NFL (and I'm not convinced it is) it is
by degrees so slight they are all but imperceptible.
That's why, if Marc Trestman didn't quite march the
Alouettes downfield for a touchdown in his first
Montreal outing yesterday, he did at least move his team
into scoring position: He was humble. He indicated a
boundless willingness to learn.
And he won, I suspect, more than a few friends while he
was being introduced as head coach of the Als yesterday.
For a guy who was all but counted out within moments of
his hiring three weeks ago, that was quite a feat.
"If you aren't humble," Trestman said, "if you aren't
ready to work hard, this game will eat you alive. You
have to be hard-working and you have to be humble. And
you have to treat the players and all employees with
respect."
So here's the skinny on the new guy: He's tall, lean,
highly intelligent and articulate. He has a beautiful
wife. He has a portfolio many football coaches would die
for, even if things have been a bit rough for him of
late. And I am not just saying these things because he
has a law degree and might sue me if I don't.
Above all, he doesn't suffer from that Arrogant American
syndrome. He's humble, and in the end that might take
him farther than all the rest of it.
"I'm glad I'm not a defensive coordinator in the CFL,"
Trestman said, "where the field is 53 per cent larger
and you have only one more guy to cover it and all that
motion."
Because the CFL is unique and because Trestman
acknowledged that his strength is on offence, one of the
first tasks he faces is to find a defensive coordinator
to replace Chris Jones, who left for Calgary. The
Alouettes also announced yesterday that Scott Milanovich,
after one season with the Als as quarterbacks coach,
will become the offensive coordinator - replacing the
departed Marcel Bellefeuille - and that Vince Martino
will be the offensive-line coach after winning the World
Bowl as head coach of the NFL Europe Hamburg Sea Devils.
But Trestman is the man of the hour. If he has a
weakness, it is that he has not spent time on the
sidelines in the CFL, apart from a brief visit to the
Als training camp last spring. But yesterday, you could
see the qualities that persuaded the Alouettes to hire
him over a long list of candidates with CFL experience.
First, there's the résumé: He has worked with some of
the best people in the game, starting at the University
of Minnesota, where he was the backup quarterback to a
guy named Tony Dungy. He was quarterbacks coach for the
Miami Hurricanes in 1983 when (we painfully remember)
the 'Canes defeated the 'Huskers 31-30 in the Orange
Bowl.
The next year, with Trestman still as his coach, Bernie
Kosar set school records for pass completions, passing
yards and touchdowns.
When Bud Grant came out of retirement in 1985, he hired
Trestman for his staff. Four years later, Trestman was
named offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns,
going back to work with Kosar. In 1995, he was hired by
George Seifert as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks
coach for the San Francisco 49ers.
 He
also worked as coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals
before becoming the senior offensive assistant to Jon
Gruden with the Oakland Raiders. When Gruden left, Bill
Callahan made Trestman his offensive coordinator and the
team went to the Super Bowl, where they lost to Gruden's
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Most recently, Trestman was the
offensive coordinator at North Carolina State before the
entire coaching staff was let go.
If there's an alarm bell on the résumé, it's that
Trestman hasn't stayed anywhere that long, but assistant
coaches rarely do, and the trend seems to be downward of
late, but that's the nature of the game: You have to
find a situation that suits you, an owner who believes
in you. The good part is that with all the names on his
résumé, Trestman could come on like the reincarnation of
Vince Lombardi. He doesn't, and that will give him a
chance to succeed.
Obviously, Bob Wetenhall believes in Trestman. After
some of the things he said yesterday, his players
should, too. And Trestman emphasized that he wants to
work with the media and with the community, which means
he's already a far cry from Don Matthews.
His first words to Montreal were: "Je m'appelle Marc
Trestman."
This guy is going to succeed with the Alouettes. You
read it here first.
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/columnists/story.html?id=ecc8162f-84aa-4f42-b1df-0d7454567934
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Trestman names his
offensive assistants
Jan. 9, 2008
Scott Milanovich and Vince Martino received new jobs
titles as the revamping of the Montreal Alouettes'
coaching staff continued on Wednesday.
Milanovich was promoted to offensive co-ordinator, while
the team named Martino the new offensive line coach.
Trestman was not able to attend a news conference
announcing his hiring due to a family medical emergency
involving his father.
Milanovich spent four years in NFL Europe, including two
as offensive co-ordinator, before spending last season
as the Alouettes' quarterback coach.
Milanovich was a quarterback during his playing days,
with stops in the NFL, NFL Europe, Arena Football
League, XFL and CFL's Calgary Stampeders.
Martino was offensive line coach with the Hamburg Sean
Devils, who won the NFL Europe championship last season.
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Trestman Named
new coach of Montreal Alouettes
Dec. 18, 2007
Official release, Montreal - Montreal Alouettes’ owner,
Mr. Bob Wetenhall, President and Chief Executive
Officer, Mr. Larry Smith, and Vice President and General
Manager, Mr. Jim Popp, announced today that Marc
Trestman has been named the team’s new head coach.
“We have conducted a thorough interview process with
about 10 potential candidates and we feel very confident
that we have made the ideal choice for the future of our
franchise,” said Mr. Smith. “Marc Trestman has an
impressive track record, mostly at the NFL level. We
believe he will be able to bring great leadership skills
and knowledge to our league and take the Alouettes back
to the standard to which our fans are accustomed, and to
our ultimate objective which is the Grey Cup.”
Trestman comes from the NFL where he has served as an
offensive coordinator for four different teams – the
Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers, the Arizona
Cardinals and the Oakland Raiders, leading each to the
playoffs in his first season. He has coached with NFL
legends Bud Grant, Georges Seifert and Jon Gruden, and
worked closely with superstars Bernie Kosar, Steve
Young, Jerry Rice and Rich Gannon.
In addition to great years with Young and Rice with the
49ers, his best season came in 2002, with Gannon, as the
Raiders went to the Super Bowl and Gannon was named the
league MVP, setting several offensive records along the
way. Trestman attended the Alouettes’ 2007 training camp
as a guest coach and served as a consultant to the New
Orleans Saints’ head coach, Sean Payton.
Trestman will choose and announce his assistants after
the holidays.
Click Here for the Press Briefing
on the hiring of Marc Trestman
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The Montreal Alouettes hire Marc Trestman as their new
coach
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Demeanor,
reaching out to others important in any career, former
football coach says
 Former
college and professional football coach Marc Trestman
said a positive attitude, personal confidence and being
involved in the lives of other people are traits that
have been helpful to him throughout his career during a
visit with Professor Steve Friedland's Evidence class
Sept. 4.
"The most important word in anybody's vocabulary should
be demeanor," said Trestman, who earned a law degree
from the University of Miami before a 23-year coaching
career spent mostly in the National Football League.
"People are going to judge you when you walk into a room
on how you carry yourself."
Trestman's visit was part of the National Mentors
Program with Elon's Center for Engaged Learning in the
Law (CELL). In this new program, mentors work with small
groups of students to enhance their work in law school
and later as practicing attorneys.
Trestman was offensive coordinator with the Cleveland
Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders. He has
coached in a Super Bowl and two AFC championship games.
As a quarterbacks coach in the NFL, Trestman has worked
with notable quarterbacks Steve Young, Jake Plummer and
Rich Gannon.
As a coach, he said he did not begin to truly grow in
the profession until he understood that coaching was
more than "just seeing the players as chess pieces and
putting them in the right position to win. You have to
get to know them, understand them, ask them about their
families and mean it. When I learned (coaching) was
really about relationships, that's when I started to get
it."
There are no coincidences in life, Trestman said, noting
that the contacts he made in various coaching jobs
helped him land other jobs later on. "Don't live in a
box. Reach out and embrace anybody who comes into your
life, because you never know where it will lead."
Trestman began his coaching career at the University of
Miami, coaching star quarterbacks Bernie Kosar and
Vinnie Testaverde as the Hurricanes won the 1983
national championship and played in the 1984 Fiesta
Bowl. He also spent the 2005 and 2006 seasons as
offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at NC State
University. Trestman currently writes a weekly scouting
column for SI.com and is doing consulting work with the
New Orleans Saints.
Leaders in the law, business and a variety of other
fields will visit the Elon law school as part of the
National Mentors Program. Future visitors include the
Honorable Mozelle Thompson, former deputy assistant
secretary of the Treasury who later served as the second
African American commissioner of the Federal Trade
Commission, and San Diego attorney Michael Shames,
director of the Utility Consumer Action Network and
author of a book, “The World’s Greatest Consumer.”
This
story was originally published on the Elon University
School of Law website.
http://www.elon.edu/e-web/academics/law/mentors_trestman.xhtml
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