SubscribeWelcome to the JFL, Marc Trestman
Mazel tov to the former head coach of the Montreal Alouettes, who takes on that role for the Chicago Bears.
The Bears were 10-6 this season but failed to make the playoffs, spelling doom for coach Lovey Smith, who was 81-63 over nine seasons.
Prior to joining the Alouettes, where he had a record of59-31 from 2008-12, Trestman, 57, was an offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns (1989), San Francisco 49ers (1995-96), Arizona Cardinals (1998-2000), and Oakland Raiders (2002-03). He led the Als to the playoffs in each of his five seasons, winning two Grey Cups, the CFL equivalent of the Vince Lombardi trophy that goes to the winner of the Super Bowl.
Trestman becomes the Bears’ 14th head coach. If that seems like an unusually small number, given the team’s 82-year history, it’s because George “Papa Bear” Halas held the position for 40 seasons.
It’s interesting to note that Marv Levy, the last Jewish NFL head coach, also was a coach in the Canadian Football League — for the Alouettes. What are the odds? Not to mention that M-a-r-c/v first name thing.
In other Bears news, today Gabe Carimi was named the Bears new starting quarterback, replacing Jay Cutler.
Heh.
Wishing Coach Trestman the best of luck with this opportunity, Ron. It’s a great job for a historic franchise and I hope he runs with it and is on the sidelines in Chicago for many years to come. One caveat is that Chicago, like NY and Philly, can be a brutal town when it comes to fans and media, so he will have to win and probably win early. I like the Bears’ roster, but they do have some concerns with age and the QB, Jay Cutler, while very talented, can be injury prone and a bit headstrong and stubborn (i.e. a coach killer), so that’s a bit of a concern, but let’s think positive and hope everything works out great for Trestman in the NFL as a HC. I’ll miss following him with the Als as my little niche that nobody else cared about in some ways, lol, but it’s a no brainer to accept this job.
Other interesting parallels between Trestman and Levy besides the obvious Jewish angle. They both got their start as a head coaches in the NFL at a relatively late ages. Levy was 52 when he got his first shot with the Chiefs in ’78 I believe. Shame that they had to wait that long, but Levy did go on to have a HOF career nonetheless and coached until he was 72, tying former Bear coach George Halas incidentally as the oldest NFL coach ever. Levy and Trestman also both have advanced degrees. Marv’s is from Harvard in English Lit I believe and Trestman is actually a lawyer and member of the bar. I don’t think many NFL coaches have that kind of resume behind them. Finally, they both coached exactly 5 seasons with the Als, both appeared in 3 Grey Cups, and both won two. Trestman did have a better overall record in the CFL, however, but if he can even come close to Levy’s accomplishments in the NFL, 4 straight Super Bowls, albeit all loses, his NFL career will be deemed a huge success.