Marc Trestman spent a little more than two decades serving various roles as an assistant coach on a good number of teams before finally getting a chance to become a head coach for the first time. Despite a lengthy coaching career in the NCAA and NFL, Trestman’s first stab at being a head coach would come north of the border in the Canadian Football League with the Montreal Alouettes in 2008. For Montreal, it was a home run hire as it brought two Grey Cup championships to the city and Trestman was named CFL Coach of the Year in 2009.

Despite a lengthy resume in the United States and a brief and successful run as head coach in the CFL, there appeared to be little interest in giving Trestman a head coaching shot in the United States. Was it just bad timing with the job markets among NFL and NCAA jobs, or was there something else to it? The Indianapolis Colts interviewed Trestman for their head coaching vacancy in 2012, but ended up going with Chuck Pagano instead. In 2013, Trestman interviewed for two coaching jobs with NFL teams; the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears. The Bears ended up hiring Trestman in hopes his success at the CFL would translate to the NFL. To some, this relatively outside-the-box line of thinking for its coaching hire was seen as a bold move, leaving some to describe it as a “great hire.”

Harmon is right in saying Trestman does have a wealth of experience in the NFL to rely on. One of Trestman’s more recent claims to success at the time was his work in Oakland as a quarterbacks coach with Rich Gannon, who was named MVP and led the Raiders to a Super Bowl appearance. He also worked with Jake Plummer in Arizona and helped get the Cardinals to the NFC playoffs for the first time in 16 years. You may have heard of another quarterback Trestman had experience working with; Steve Young.

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.