Sep
Trestmania’s taking hold in Montreal
Courtesy Regina Leader Post:
In an eight-team league where you meet each one at least twice per season, it would be hard not to know at least something about the other head coaches.
Based on getting to the Grey Cup as a rookie coach, Marc Trestman of the Montreal Alouettes would have turned everyone’s head, of course.
But in an unusual and unsolicited statement last season by the winningest coach in the league, Wally Buono credited Trestman with breathing some new life into offences grown predictable and stale.
Actually, Buono pointed to Trestman and Calgary’s John Hufnagel for introducing excitement back into the game. Since Hufnagel had once been his offensive co-ordinator, giving credit to Minneapolis-born Trestman, a CFL neophyte, seemed the more remarkable.
That veteran quarterback Anthony Calvillo has enjoyed an impressive resurgence under Trestman’s tutelage, and publicly pointed that out, is fair confirmation.
Buono, who is two wins shy of becoming the all-time winningest coach in the CFL, and Trestman will match strategies and lineups tonight at B.C. Place in the first game of a home-and-home series. The Als are 7-1 and the Lions 3-5, so the edge goes to Trestman even though he’s just approaching his 27th regular-season game as boss. It’s Buono’s 350th.
“I had a chance to meet coach Buono at the coaching congress last year and he was nothing but extremely positive in answering all my questions,” said Trestman. “He’s been nothing but gracious to me. I’ve had a blast since coming to Canada.”
Trestman brought a reputation of being something of an offensive genius from various NFL and NCAA stops.
He inherited a pretty-fair nucleus led by Calvillo, who is in his 16th CFL season, and receiver Ben Cahoon, who has been around for 12, all with Montreal.
It has been pretty successful so far.
The Als are 18-8 in the regular season and they’ve been to a Grey Cup game, where they lost 22-14 to the Stamps.
While Trestman wouldn’t go so far as to agree the game up here compared to the four-down brand is like apples and oranges, he did admit he is concerned that he’s going to get caught by surprise.
“It’s a very complicated game up here,” said Trestman. “I still think the fundamentals are absolutely the same, but the mathematics are different. The downs, the number of players, the size of the field all have to be considered.”
Combining those things with the motion allowed in the CFL only makes the endless offensive possibilities all the more reason why Trestman says: “I’ve come to love it. The game is faster, the 20-second clock is not unreasonable [teams get 40 seconds to get a play off in the NFL]. The big difference is not having a headset to the QB so you might not get to change a play.
“The rules in the CFL have been extremely well thought out. The more I see the game the more impressed I am.”
Still, there’s that worry he will get bushwhacked.
“It’s really exciting the way the clock is used. It’s edge-of-your-seat stuff.”
As much Trestman seems to like the CFL, the CFL should like him more.
- Services were held in Montreal on Thursday for CFL Hall of Fame quarterback and coach Sam Etcheverry, who died of cancer last weekend.
