By Steve Rhodes
Only Bears chuckleheads will anoint Marc Trestman as coach of the year after one victory, but no matter what happens on the field, I can’t help but be impressed with his general demeanor, which would hardly merit notice if not for the childish oafs and dummkopfs who so often troll NFL sidelines.
Lovie Smith, for example, was an insufferable bore who acted like fans and reporters were enemy spies hardly worthy of his attention. Trestman, on the other hand, actually takes no offense at being asked questions and doesn’t hesitate to answer. He’s certainly not a media hog, and he’s a bit heavy on self-help corpo-speak (“I just asked the guys to be good teammates today”), but he is undoubtedly an adult. And that’s refreshing.
(Similarly, Phil Emery is an upgrade in maturity level over Jerry Angelo.)
Trestman’s also a pretty damn smart guy. Doesn’t mean he’ll be a success in the NFL, but he’s earned more respect than perhaps the Ditka Caucus has given him – though he savvily addressed that by inviting Da Coach to training camp. Like we said, pretty damn smart.
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He’s also an author – okay, he’s not exactly alone among coaches writing a life lessons book – and a lawyer (yeah, not inherently a great credential, we know).
From his bio:
On January 17, 2013, Marc Trestman was introduced as the 14th head coach in Chicago Bears history.
In 2008, after 17 seasons in the NFL, Marc Trestman became head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. In four seasons with Montreal, Trestman has guided the Alouettes to three Grey Cup appearances, including back-to-back Grey Cup Championships in 2009 and 2010.
After playing quarterback for the University of Minnesota for three seasons. Marc transferred as a senior to play quarterback at Minnesota State University Moorhead.
Marc graduated from Minnesota, then spent two training camps with the Minnesota Vikings as a defensive back. Marc went on to graduate from the University of Miami School of Law and then became a member of the Florida bar.
In 2010, Marc released his first book as an author titled Perseverence: Life Lessons on Leadership and Teamwork.
Perhaps his best credential is the fact that’s he’s been both a quarterback and a defensive back.
He also has extensive NFL coaching experience.
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Okay, I’m not likely to ever truly fall in love with Trestman because he’s not exactly the funniest coach around, even if he grew up in the same Minneapolis suburb that produced Al Franken and the Coen brothers. (That’s not typical Bears pedigree, but how has typical Bears pedigree worked out?) But I could find myself actually respecting him.
It’s time for something different for the Bears, and that’s something Trestman is already delivering.
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Comments welcome.
Posted on September 10, 2013