Marc Trestman learned the nuances of three-down football on the fly.
Heading into today's Grey Cup with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Monteal Alouettes second-year head coach insists he still is.
"It continues on -- I say that each and every week," Trestman said.
"The process was very unnerving early on, and it isn't quite as unnerving today as it was 18 months ago, but there's still an edge to it all. Through this process, we just try to continue to grow.
"Things come up every week -- an unusual circumstance or an unusual challenge comes up. Something is going to come up that is maybe even unexpected. We just take them as they come."
The Alouettes raised some eyebrows in December 2007, when they hired Trestman to guide a group of savvy CFL veterans coming off their first sub-.500 season since the rebirth of the franchise in 1996.
While Trestman's coaching resume included stints as an offensive co-ordinator with the Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers, the Arizona Cardinals and the Oakland Raiders, plus assistant jobs in four other NFL cities, his CFL experience was limited to three days as a guest coach at Alouettes training camp six months earlier.
Experts were quick to point out Trestman, a former collegiate quarterback, didn't know squat about the Canadian game. Trestman, himself, admitted as much.
For the guys in the Alouettes' locker-room, that was the first step in what's been quite a journey.
"When he first came in, we thought, 'Oh my god, this guy would be a dictator. It would be his way or the highway,' " said Als centre Bryan Chiu. "When he told us he wasn't afraid to ask for help, it showed he didn't have an ego. It wasn't about him. He wanted us to succeed as a team, and, as players, we embraced that.
On the eve of his second straight Grey Cup, nobody was questioning Trestman's knowledge of the game.
In fact, the 53-year-old has been so successful in the CFL, he's been hailed as a candidate for an NFL head coaching gig as soon as 2010.
Not bad for a guy still learning the Canadian game, eh?
"The one thing that football players do is adapt, and he's a football player and a football coach, so he's going to be able to adapt," said Als ball-carrier Avon Cobourne. "And he has. Back-to-back Grey Cups. Best record in the CFL. He's done what he set out to do."
WES.GILBERTSON@SUNMEDIA.CA
