At the present moment, we can put to rest the Marc Trestman rumours leaving for the NFL, or NCAA. With the Indianapolis Colts ending any immediate angst from the Alouettes that they would consider hiring Trestman. Instead they opted for Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator, Chuck Pagano.
By the way, did anyone win the pair of Super Bowl tickets from Colts owner, Jim Irsay on correctly guessing Pagano?
What happens now with Trestman and the Alouettes? As reported two weeks ago by Herb Zurkowsky of The Montreal Gazette, that the Alouettes opened contract negotiations with Trestman. Could this process be expedited that an agreement is in the horizon?
Since the end December, Trestman’s name has been mentioned with every available coaching job. Many were left to feel that he would have accepted an offer provided the situation was correct.
Now, if the team and Trestman come to terms on a new deal, would he ask for a window of opportunity to explore other options during the offseason? If you’re the Alouettes, could they even grant Trestman this wish?
For now the Trestman storm has passed without severely affecting the Alouettes organization. But moving ahead, it would be imperative for the team to get him to sign a long term contract and put to rest any future rumblings of him leaving the CFL club. Otherwise, everyone involved will be going through the same cycle at this time next year.
The Next Defensive Coordinator Will Be?
With the Trestman issue in the backburner, the Alouettes will turn the attention on hiring their next defensive coordinator. We have heard names ranging from Greg Marshall, Michael Sinclair, and even Jeff Reinebold.
I still believe Sinclair deserves an opportunity to lead this defense since he knows the entire personnel. He will still employ the same successful defensive concepts used by previous Alouettes coordinators in Tim Tibesar, and Tim Burke.
Furthermore, in the coming years Sinclair’s name will be high on a lot of team’s lists. His ability to teach, and get the best out of his players will make him an appealing choice for any potential suitors.
As for Greg Marshall, he is still bitter on how it ended with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. There is no question that he can coach defense. However, given what he has gone through in the last 12 months, could he opt to stay off the sidelines and continue to collect his pay from the Roughriders?
Eventually, once the CFL comes back to Ottawa, he could apply for that position since he was apart of the Renegades coaching staff in 2005. Marshall will have options but he could sit back and wait for the right opportunity to accept an offer.
Reinebold would be a surprising hire. Right now he has a comfortable job being the right hand man of head coach, June Jones at Southern Methodist University. Last month, had Jones been hired by Arizona State, Reinebold would have joined his Sun Devils staff.
With SMU eventually moving to the Big East, his job with the Mustangs would become even more important recruiting in the U.S. northeast, and down in the sun-belt region. Moreover, the stability at SMU should be appealing to him given he has a bigger range of coaching flexibility than he would have with the Alouettes.
Looking at his coaching history, from 2006-2007 at the University of Hawaii he oversaw the defensive line, aside from that he has coached primarily on the offense. So could he really fit in well as defensive coordinator?
No one can forget his two year stint as the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers where he produced a record of 7-29, and his Bombers defense gave up an average of 31.5 points per game. But his claim to fame was during a 1997 postgame handshake with then B.C. Lions head coach Adam Rita that resulted in near boxing match between the two counterparts.
With CFL free agency less than four weeks away, very soon the Alouettes will be pressing the issue to have a coach in-place so they can sell potential free agents on joining the club. But for now, who could it be?
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You can hear me on The Midnight Snack every Friday morning from midnight-2am, on Gamepoints every Tuesday night, and various other shows on TSN 990.
Photo credit: www.canada.com
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