November 17, 2017

Ferguson: Trestman continues to teach the ‘thinking person’s game’

Johany Jutras/CFL.ca

After an upbeat music filled practice at home Thursday a wind whipped and rain soaked Toronto Argonauts roster and coaching staff made their way back to Don Bosco double blue headquarters to continue preparation for the East division final against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Upon their return to their facility Argonauts Head Coach Marc Trestman stepped to the waiting media.

Asked a question about how the type of wind experienced Thursday would affect special teams if it appeared at BMO Field Sunday afternoon, Trestman answered in the most honest way a man of his football acumen could, “that’s a long involved answer”.

Most answers are inside Trestman’s head. Whether he verbalizes all those thoughts is hit and miss but when he does it’s a grad school level crash course in football philosophy.

Despite the apologetic preface declaring that everyone should settle in and prepare to open their textbooks to the page on Canadian Football League special teams preparation Tretsman offered up the coles notes information in a way that made consuming and understanding his message easy and clear. Yet another trait of a great coach and teacher.


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”Theres so many issues that take place with halo’s and types of kicks, directional kicking and much more. We’ve gone over all of those today. There is a check list of things and we try to embrace every part of it.”

Embracing teaching the rules of a sometimes strange Canadian game to newcomers year after year would be viewed by many as anything but worth embracing but Trestman finds joy in the development and understanding of talent.

He cultivates potential everywhere he goes and demands the very best from everyone around him. Successfully imparting wisdom and seeing that knowledge lead to team success is one of the few things that brings true joy to Trestman on the sidelines during games.

Take for example the late game situation against Winnipeg which required the kickout team to perfectly execute a game ending play should Justin Medlock miss the game winning attempt.

Gone are the days of Argos kickout teams being included in football follies VHS tapes.

 

Trestman prepared for the situation, knew what to expect, coached the execution and saw it come to fruition. The result? A head coach mobbed by admiring players and a wide smiling bench boss feeling the reward of endless preparation.

That smile would be ten times bigger if the Argos executed a similar game clinching play in order to earn a trip to Ottawa for the Grey Cup next Sunday but Trestman knows previous understanding does not equate to current preparation.

“The beauty of this game is it’s a thinking person’s game, It was created that way. It’s something I’ve learned in my six years and continue to learn is that these rules were created for a reason and they force you to think and your players to think. It’s an exciting process to have to go through”.

Learning as an exciting process to embrace in 2017? There aren’t many men that prepare, coach, speak and teach football like Marc Trestman does but none of that matters if Trestman and his student don’t pass their biggest test this Sunday.