Sean Fitz-Gerald
National Post

CALGARY -- Someone always asks the sex question. It is a proud Grey Cup tradition that, as the head coaches of both teams are stranded on the podium for the annual pre-game news conference, one of the last volleys from the floor is about whether either man believes his players should abstain from intercourse the night before kickoff.

The answers often reveal something about the coach's personality. Some coaches demur, but others have jumped at the opportunity, as Michael Clemons did five years ago when he playfully suggested to the room that: "if it has worked thus far, please indulge. If it has not benefited you to this point, please abstain."

Marc Trestman smirked when it was his turn yesterday, for the second straight year.

"We're going to keep the same regimen we kept last year," he said. "And that is to leave it up to our coaches to make that decision for themselves."

Understated, open-minded and delivered with the flare of a first-year economics lecture, it seemed to capture the essence of a man who has only needed two years to dominate his competition in the Canadian Football League. The Montreal Alouettes won a team record 15 games this year under Trestman, who has guided the team to consecutive Grey Cup appearances amid swirling speculation it could be his last, at least for a while.

Depending on the keywords typed into Google, Trestman is a candidate for coaching jobs with the Cleveland Browns, the Oakland Raiders and the Buffalo Bills. He has even been linked to an assistant coaching job in the NCAA, with his success in Canada having apparently lifted him to prominence on the various rumour mills in the United States.

He is under contract through next season, and it has been reported that contract does not include an escape clause. It is clear Montreal does not want to let him go, with a team that plays like a well-oiled machine, led by an aging core of veterans rejuvenated under a new system that preaches order and professionalism.

"I don't have fear," Alouettes general manager Jim Popp said. "I know he's happy where he is, and whether there's been speculation out there from people, those are great honours to have those types of things said. But it's just pure speculation."

Trestman has the logos of more than a dozen football teams listed under his biography in Montreal's media guide. He worked with quarterback Bernie Kosar at the University of Miami, with Steve Young and Jerry Rice in San Francisco, and with nine other National Football League teams before landing in Montreal two years ago.

Critics were ready to pounce when he was hired, as a U.S.-trained coach without any real experience working in Canada. But he never gave anyone the chance to jump, leading the team to a first-place finish in the East Division and a narrow loss in the Grey Cup.

"He has no ego," long-time Montreal centre Bryan Chiu said. "He's not afraid to ask for help. He doesn't claim to know everything. He'll be the first to ask for help if he needs it, and he expects us to do the same thing."

Trestman's attention to detail is well documented, beginning when he had players work on how they would stand at attention for the national anthem. He gives them a schedule a month in advance so they know what days they will be expected to work, which days they will have off and when it is hoped they will rest.

"When you do something wrong, you feel like you're disappointing your father, almost, you know?" Chiu said. "He won't yell at you. He just gives you that look and you know, ‘ah, I should have done better.' "

Outsiders, as Trestman was last year, do not typically lead their teams to a Grey Cup in each of their first two seasons. Evidence of how a rookie season can fail filled coverage of the Toronto Argonauts this season, with Bart Andrus, who had never before worked in the CFL, leading the team to a dreadful three-win season.

Trestman has advantages in Montreal. It is a veteran team with several players en route to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, and Popp has built a conveyor belt for fresh incoming talent.

But the coach took that good team and made it better. Quarterback Anthony Calvillo has been nominated for the CFL's outstanding player award for the second straight year after completing a remarkable 72% of his passes under Trestman's scheme, a scheme that led to a 56-18 dismantling of the B.C. Lions in the East Division final.

That was on Sunday, the same day The Buffalo News waded through the rumours of his potential hiring in Western New York. The verdict was he would not be a good fit for the Bills, but the writer concluded with the suggestion "maybe Oakland would be a good fit."

"Right now, I have no interest in anything but focusing on this week," Trestman said, in his metronomic, monotone best yesterday. "That's the answer you'd expect me to give, and it's the one I truly believe."

Courtesy: www.nationalpost.com