Early life

He graduated in 1974 from Saint Louis Park High School in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota. He played college football as quarterback for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team for three seasons, in which he served as a backup quarterback for Tony Dungy. He transferred as a senior to play quarterback at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Trestman received a bachelor's degree in political science from Minnesota in 1979 and a J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law. He has been a member of the Florida bar since 1983.

Trestman went to training camp with the Minnesota Vikings in both 1978 and 1979 as a defensive back.

Coaching career

NCAA

He entered football coaching at the University of Miami in 1981 as a volunteer coach. In 1983 he was named quarterbacks coach. That year quarterback Bernie Kosar passed for 2,329 yards and Miami won the national championship. The next year Kosar completed 262 passes for 3,642 yards, both school records.

In 2005, he returned to college football coaching as the North Carolina State Wolfpack offensive coordinator, guiding the Wolfpack to a win in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. However, at the end of the 2006 season, he, along with the entire coaching staff, was fired.

NFL

Trestman moved to the National Football League and coached running backs with the Minnesota Vikings in 1985 and 1986. He served as quarterbacks coach first with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1987 and then the Cleveland Browns in 1988. In Cleveland he again coached Kosar and the team finished 10-6 and made the playoffs. His promotion to offensive coordinator in 1989 was made before the team named Bud Carson as Marty Schottenheimer's successor as head coach. Kosar passed for 3,533 yards and 18 TDs that season, while wide receiver Webster Slaughter had a franchise record 1,236 receiving yards. Trestman was dismissed after the Browns' third loss in the AFC Championship game in four years, primarily due to his strained relationship with Carson.

In 1990, Trestman returned to Minnesota as quarterbacks coach for the Vikings. He spent two years there and then left coaching for three years, and worked in the municipal bond sale during that timespan.

He returned to the NFL in 1995 as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator with San Francisco, where he served in that capacity through 1996. The first year he was in San Francisco, the team led the NFL with 457 points scored, 644 pass attempts and 4,779 passing yards.

Trestman joined the Detroit Lions as quarterbacks coach in 1997. That year Lions quarterback Scott Mitchell passed for 3,484 yards, fourth most in team history.

In 1998 he was with the Arizona Cardinals as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. That year quarterback Jake Plummer threw for 3,737 yards, and the Cardinals made the playoffs for the first time since 1982 and won their first post season game in 51 years.

He next went to the Oakland Raiders in 2001 as the quarterbacks coach. In 2002 he was promoted to offensive coordinator and the Raiders led the NFL in total offense with 389.8 yards per game and passing yards with 279.7 per game. Under Trestman's guidance, Raiders QB Rich Gannon won the 2002 NFL MVP award as the Raiders reached Super Bowl XXXVII, losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Trestman spent the 2004 season with the Miami Dolphins before returning to the college ranks (see above).

In 2007, Trestman spent time with the New Orleans Saints as a consultant for Head Coach Sean Payton.

CFL

On December 18, 2007, Trestman was named head coach for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. The Alouettes lost 22-14 to the Calgary Stampeders in the 2008 Grey Cup championship game. At the conclusion of the season, he was nominated for the CFL's Annis Stukus Award as the league's top coach, with Calgary's John Hufnagel winning. On March 5, 2010, Trestman won the Coach of the year award.

In 2009, Trestman led the Alouettes to win the 2009 Grey Cup, winning with a thrilling field goal with no time left on the clock. After the season, it was announced that he was signed through the 2012 season as the head coach. Trestman also led the Alouettes to a Grey Cup win in 2010. Trestman is the only coach in Alouettes history to win back-to-back Grey Cups. Under Trestman's guidance, Alouettes QB Anthony Calvillo won back-to-back MVP awards in 2009 and 2010.

Return to the NFL

In 2012, Trestman was interviewed by the Indianapolis Colts for their vacant position of head coach. The Colts eventually hired Chuck Pagano.

In early 2013, Trestman was interviewed by the Chicago Bears and the Cleveland Browns for their respective vacant head coaching positions. On January 16, 2013 he was named head coach of the Bears. Of the seven coordinators/position coaches he has hired, Trestman has worked with six of them (Aaron Kromer, Matt Cavanaugh and Skip Peete worked with Trestman during his tenure with the Raiders, while Andy Bischoff, Pat Meyer and Tim Tibesar worked with him in Montreal). On March 20, at the NFL Annual Meeting, Trestman stated that the read-option offense will be part of the Bears' playbook. In Trestman's first game, the Bears won 24-21 against the Cincinnati Bengals, and Trestman became the fourth Bears head coach to win his first game, along with George Halas (1920), Neill Armstrong (1978) and Dick Jauron (1999). After winning in week two against the Minnesota Vikings, Trestman also joined Halas and Armstrong as the only coaches in Bears history to win his first two games as Bears head coach. The week fifteen win against the Cleveland Browns improved the Bears to 8-6; the 8 wins are the most by a first-year head coach in franchise history since Paddy Driscoll in 1956 (9 wins), and the most by a Bears first-year head coach in the Super Bowl era. Trestman's first season as Bears head coach ended with an 8-8 record, second in the NFC North. Trestman's offensive prowess aided the Bears, who concluded 2013 with the second-best scoring offense with 445 points, trailing the Denver Broncos, and a 14-place increase from 2012. The Bears also had the fifth-best offensive yardage gained with 4281 yards. The offense also broke team records in total yards (6,109), passing yards (4,450), passing touchdowns (32) and first downs (344).

The Bears struggled during Trestman's second season as head coach, earning a 5-11 record at season's end. The season included blowout losses to New England and Green Bay in mid-season, as well as a five-game losing streak to end the season. Despite this, Trestman spoke with confidence that he would be back as the Bears' head coach next season following a 13-9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Trestman and general manager Phil Emery were fired at the end of the season. Trestman issued a final statement before leaving: "I want to thank Virginia, George and the McCaskey family, Phil Emery and Ted Phillips for giving me the opportunity to be the head coach of the Chicago Bears. I also want to thank all the coaches and players who gave us everything we asked over the past two years. I have tremendous respect for this organization. Chicago is a special city with great fans. I appreciate the warm support my family and I received."

Trestman was appointed as the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens on January 20, 2015.

Head coaching record

CFL coaching record

Team	Year	Regular Season					Post Season
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Result
MTL	2008	11	7	0	.611	1st in East Division	1	1	Lost in Grey Cup
MTL	2009	15	3	0	.833	1st in East Division	2	0	Won Grey Cup
MTL	2010	12	6	0	.667	1st in East Division	2	0	Won Grey Cup
MTL	2011	10	8	0	.556	2nd in East Division	0	1	Lost in East Semi-Final
MTL	2012	11	7	0	.611	1st in East Division	0	1	Lost in East Final
Total		59	31	0	.656	4 East Division Championships	5	3	2 Grey Cups

NFL coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season					Post season
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
CHI	2013	8	8	0	.500	2nd in NFC North	-	-	-	-
CHI	2014	5	11	0	.313	4th in NFC North	-	-	-	-
CHI Total		13	19	0	.406		-	-	-	-
Total		13	19	0	.406		-	-	-	-

Personal life

Trestman and his wife Cindy have two daughters, Sarahanne and Chloe.

Trestman is Jewish, and was the only active Jewish head coach in the NFL in 2014.

In 2010, Trestman released his first book as an author titled PERSEVERANCE: Life Lessons on Leadership and Teamwork.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]