Attention, disgruntled football fans. Looking for a new head coach? There are plenty of qualified candidates out there, sitting by the phone. Mike Holmgren is one. Mike Shanahan is another. Jon Gruden. Bill Cowher. Brian Billick.
Nobody slips through the cracks, only I guarantee somebody does. And that somebody is Marc Trestman.
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| Could Marc Trestman, here with Jerry Rice, wind up with another go-round with the hurting Raiders? (Getty Images) |
That's a credit to a lot of people, including the team's general manager Jim Popp. He had the guts to hire Trestman when others would not. But mostly it's a credit to Trestman, who proved he has what it takes to be a successful head coach. All he needed was a chance. Popp and owner Robert Wetenhall gave it to him, and the results have been so overwhelming that Montreal must wonder when the NFL lures him back across the border.
If it's smart, it will be soon. But it won't. Trestman is not on anyone's radar in the NFL because, well, because there's this idea that he's bright and innovative and pieces together a nice passing game and all that, but that he really isn't cut out to be a head coach. He's too nice or too docile or too cerebral or just not head-coaching material, whatever that means.
Anyway, nobody is talking about him as a head-coaching prospect in the NFL, and that's a mistake. Because in two seasons Trestman has proven that they should be; that his critics were wrong and that he does, indeed, have what it takes to be a head coach.
OK, so it's the CFL. Isn't that the league that gave us Bud Grant and Marv Levy? Didn't Warren Moon and Doug Flutie and Joe Theismann and Jeff Garcia make the jump from there? Don't tell me it doesn't matter because it does, and what matters now is that Marc Trestman and the Montreal Alouettes are setting the league on its toboggan.
"People evolve," said Popp. "I know he's seen as a good guy and a nice guy, but he has that voice to get someone's attention. And he can grab you real quick. He can serve as a 'father figure' to some of these guys, but at the same time he's able to discipline you real quick. Like 'Don't cross me.' Marc really knows his stuff."
No one ever questioned that. A few years ago New Orleans coach Sean Payton wanted to hire him as his offensive coordinator, but Trestman turned him down and moved his family to North Carolina, where he worked at N.C. State. Then Popp offered him the chance to go to Canada. Popp’s father, Joe, and Trestman worked together in Cleveland on the Browns staff, and Popp got to know his future head coach then. Two decades later he invited him to attend Alouettes practices and to speak to the team. Trestman didn’t know it then, but he was auditioning for his future job.
"The guy," said Popp, "is a great communicator."
Trestman always wanted to be a head coach somewhere, and he hoped that somewhere would be the NFL or a major-college program. But that wasn't going to happen, and Trestman got the message after the 2002 season when the Raiders went to the Super Bowl, thanks largely to their passing game. Rich Gannon was the league MVP. The Raiders were the best offense anywhere, setting franchise passing records galore. And Trestman would parlay their success ... his success ... into something bigger and better.
Only it never happened, and it looked as if he might fade from the scene until Popp came to the rescue. Now Trestman has one of the best jobs on the planet. He gets to coach in Montreal. He gets to run things his way. He gets to coach another league MVP, quarterback Anthony Cavillo. He gets to spend the offseason with his family. And he gets what he deserves -- which is credit for doing a job right.
When Wetenhall hired Trestman in January, 2008, he conceded he was taking a chance on someone who never coached in the CFL and who had never been a head coach at any level of football. But he also said, "I would bet my reputation on Marc Trestman." He knew what he was doing.
"The inspired hiring of Marc Trestman is still paying dividends," Jack Todd wrote this week in the Montreal Gazette. "One of these days [and we fear it may be sooner rather than later] some NFL team is going to figure out that Trestman has one of the best football minds on the continent, and he's going to be lured away. He's the only coach we've ever seen to rival Marv Levy in intensity, preparation, detail and inspiration. It's a pleasure to watch."
But that was true when Trestman was the offensive coordinator in Oakland. I remember him opening a 2002 game with Pittsburgh by doing the unthinkable -- passing on the first ten snaps and 17 of the first 18. When it was over Gannon had thrown a club-record 64 times for 405 yards, and the Raiders had themselves a 30-17 victory. Oakland went on to lead the league in offense, lead it in passing and finish second only to Kansas City in points.
Better, it wound up in the Super Bowl -- the last time it won more than five games in any season.
"You know who's going to be the next head coach of the Raiders?" a general manager asked me recently.
I shook my head.
"Marc Trestman," he said. "Because Al [Davis] liked him and because he's willing to go back there."
He might be right. I hope not. Because Marc Trestman deserves to be somewhere he can run the show, choose the players, call the plays and put down the foundation for success. Sorry, but that's not Oakland. But it is Montreal. The Alouettes love the guy, he and Popp mesh perfectly and Trestman is happier than I've heard him in years. What's more, he's under contract, with no assurances the Alouettes would let him out of the deal.
And why would they? They're back to winning a zillion games with a head coach who seems, as Popp put it, "a perfect fit" for their club and their players. I remember one NFL general manager years ago telling Trestman that he made a good assistant but would never be a head coach. Trestman never forgot it, and look who's talking now: Trestman worked his way to the top of the CFL; our GM worked his way out of football.
"The man is extremely well-organized," Popp said of his head coach, "and he has a routine he stands by and lives. On the sidelines, he's a very calm person. I've never seen him stress or show a lot of emotion. If something doesn't go well offensively, you don't see him react in a negative way. And it carries over to the players. Our sidelines are very calm. I've seen little panic if we're losing, and I've never seen anyone goofing off if we're winning."
The bottom line, of course, is can he be successful -- and I'd say we have our answer. But I know what you're thinking. It's the CFL. What makes you think he can do it in the NFL? I don't know. But what I do know is that he should at least be given a chance ... and I don't see that happening anytime soon. Too bad, too, because NFL owners are always looking for the next Marv Levy, and maybe, just maybe, the next Marv Levy is back in Montreal.
"He's well deserving of everything he's gotten," said Popp. "A lot of people have a lot of respect for him. But you know what it's going to come down to: Someone has to have the [guts] to give him a chance."
Popp did, and look where it has the Alouettes. Montreal dared to be different, and the gamble paid off. Someone in the NFL should stop, look and listen to what's happening north of here. There's a head coach making a name for himself, and his name is Marc Trestman.
"Be honest now," I said to Popp. "From what you know of him do you think Marc Trestman could be successful as a head coach in the NFL?"
"I don't even question it," he said. "He's too strong of a man. He reminds me of that 15-year veteran who stayed in the game because he was so smart he knew what to do to be successful. If you put him in a situation where he has people around him to give him a chance for success he's going to have success. There is no doubt in my mind about it."
