TRESTMAN’S BIG DECISION PAID OFF FOR ARGONAUTS
When head coach decided to return to CFL, he gave this franchise leadership it needed
Somewhere in North Carolina last winter, at a Cracker Barrel located halfway between Raleigh and Charlotte, the Toronto Argonauts’ journey to Grey Cup Week in Ottawa started to unfold.
It was there, at a rest stop restaurant located off the highway, that Argos general manager Jim Popp met his old friend Marc Trestman for lunch and started to pave the way for his return to the CFL and a reunion in the Big Smoke.
After being hired by the Argos in February, Popp didn’t look any further than 61-year-old Trestman when searching for a head coach. They spent five successful years together with the Montreal Alouettes and won two CFL championships before Trestman took the Chicago Bears head coaching job in 2013.
Fired from his post as the offensive co-ordinator for the Baltimore Ravens only five weeks into the 2016 NFL season, Trestman was looking for another opportunity, but Popp wasn’t sure that included a return to the CFL.
The more they talked about it, the better it sounded to both.
“Marc and I had been speaking before I even got a call from (Toronto),” Popp said in an interview Thursday at the Shaw Centre. “We had talked a little bit about what the next year was going to be for both of us and neither of us even envisioned that we were going to be working anywhere.
“When I got the call for this job, and the talks became more (serious) between him and I, then I just simply asked the question — because I never really thought that Marc would come back to the CFL. I said, ‘Marc, would you have any interest in being the coach in Toronto?’ He thanked me for asking him. He said, ‘Let me talk to my family and my wife (Cindy).’ We got excited about it. By the time I got offered the job, he was really excited about it.”
Trestman was the right man for the situation.
By the time Popp and Trestman were hired to take over the Argos, yes, there were pieces in place, but CFL free agency had already begun and they had to move fast. Not only did they have to put a team on the field, they also had to assemble a coaching staff.
Trestman is a details guy. He leaves no stone unturned. His approach will never change. That’s what has made him successful in the past, it’s what will help guide him through the future, and it’s one of the reasons he has so much respect from the Toronto players he has helped get within one game of a Grey Cup.
His players aren’t just names and numbers. That’s what makes Trestman tick.
“(He has) a love for other people,” Argos linebacker Bear Woods said. “He has a genuine caring for anyone he works with and anyone he’s associated with.”
Trestman has brought the Argos together with his ability to make his players want to go to the wall for him. They respect him and he respects them right back. His message is simple: Never get too high, never get too low, put the details in place and treat the person beside you like family.
“The measure of our success will be how we handle these details in this very moment,” Woods added. “He’s detailed in every part of his job, treating people with love and respect, and being truly genuine because you can’t fake being genuine. The third (thing is) being evenkeeled.
“Last (Sunday) is the perfect example. Our sideline is evenkeeled. We get that leadership from Marc Trestman and Ricky Ray. You don’t know if (Ray has) thrown a touchdown or an (interception). That even-keeled (approach) really keeps the team united.”
Trestman believes if you act the right way off the field, that will lead to success on the field. He’s here to provide a guiding hand.
“My goal and purpose as a coach is to teach a person to be a better teammate, father, husband, brother or whatever it might be,” Trestman said. “I use football, and the science of football, as a tool box to do that.
“That’s why I do it and I told the players that from Day One. If I didn’t have the ability to teach the science of football I don’t think anybody would listen.”
It was important to Popp that Trestman listened during those talks last winter because here they are at Grey Cup Week for the fourth time together.
“Trust is the No. 1 thing and then our whole process is to love each other and be a family,” Popp said. “We’ve tried to get everybody on the same page and we’ve done it together in unison.”
If all goes well against the Calgary Stampeders Sunday, Popp and Trestman will have a lot to celebrate when they reconvene at that Cracker Barrel this winter.
He’s detailed in every part of his job, treating people with love and respect, and being truly genuine.