Marc Trestman is considered one of football’s great minds when it comes to QB whispering as he has played a hand in many a great QB’s ascensions or been on the coaching staff as of their rise.
After being unable to wrest the starting QB job at Minnesota, Marc Trestman transferred to Minnesota State University-Moorhead.
Unsigned, he spent camp with the Vikings in ’79 and ’80 as a defensive back but didn’t crack the lineup.
He began his college coaching career at Miami (FL) in 1981, and by ’83 was serving as the team’s QB coach.
Then in 1985, Trestman embarked on a series of stops as a positional coach and offensive coordinator in the NFL (Vikings, Browns, 49ers, Lions, Cardinals, Raiders, and Dolphins).
After a brief stop at NC State in 2005-’06, Trestman returned to the NFL as a consultant with the New Orleans Saints in 2007.
It’d be in late 2007 that Marc really carved out a name for himself as he was hired as HC of the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL.
Paired with GM Jim Popp, Marc’s Alouette teams won back to back CFL Grey Cups in 2009 and 2010.
By 2012, Trestman was garnering NFL attention, and in 2013 he was hired as the Chicago Bears head coach.
Trestman was the first coach since Bud Grant to jump from the CFL to the NFL.
He’d finish his rookie head coaching season 8-8 as the Bears would break multiple offensive team records.
Unfortunately he’d not see the same success in 2014, as the team slid to 5-11.
After a stop in Baltimore as their OC in 205/’16, Marc returned to the CFL where he had the most success.
Reunited with Jim Popp – this time in Toronto, where the Argos pulled off a worst to first, winning the Great Cup in 2017.
He’d be fired after the 2018 season.
Marc hopped on over to the XFL 2020, where he coached the Tampa Bay Vipers to a 1-4 record before COVID took down the league.
After a long hiatus, Trestman was hired by Jim Harbaugh to be an assistant with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2024.
ACCOLADES:
CFL Coach of the Year 2009, ’17
NOTES:
I was interested in learning more about Marc and I thought the best way to do so was to see his offensive mind at work, so I asked him to diagram up a play with his autograph. He. Did. Not. Instead I got a note, which I thought was a bit snarky, wishing me luck with whatever I do with the autograph, or something like that. Okay dude.
CARDS: Topps AAF 2019, Topps AAF 2019 Certified ACQUIRED: 2020, Personal Break. 2021, Future Considerations FAILURE: TTM 2019, C/o Home
CAREER SNAPSHOT:
Malachi Jones played for 2012-’15 at WR for Appalachian State.
An UDFA of the Atlanta Falcons in 2016, he’d be cut after mini camp.
Malachi took his game to the NAL to the High Country Grizzlies in 2017.
In 10 contests, he caught 66 passes for 685 yards and 16 TDs.
After a short stint in the American Arena League’s Atlanta Havoc, he signed with the Albany Empire in 2018.
He had a solid debut, catching 77 passes for 1156 yards and 29 TDs.
After being signed and cut by the Bears, Malachi signed with the Atlanta Legends of the AAF in late 2018.
Despite the team’s QB woes, he caught 22 passes for 312 yards and 2 TDs over 8 contests.
After the league folded abruptly, Malachi resigned with the Albany Empire in 2019.
He had a spectacular return to the Arena Football League with 96 catches for 1,440 yards and 25 touchdown catches.
Malachi helped the team win the Arena Bowl XXXII after the season.
Although he was selected by the Seattle Dragons of the relaunched XFL, Jones opted to sign with the Montreal Alouettes.
In 2021, he returned to the Albany Empire, but the league quickly fell apart.
This led Malachi to play for the Carolina Cobras in 2022.
ACCOLADES:
NAL Offensive Rookie of the Year 2017
Arena Football Offensive Rookie of the Year 2018
Arena Football Wide Receiver of the Year 2018
NOTES:
I hadn’t had any luck with Malachi, when a friend of mine on Facebook who knew him, reached out and said he could get him for me.
He also collected World League stuff like I did. I helped him out on a few addresses, and he helped me. Then like that, overnight, he disabled his Facebook and I never saw him again.
Later Malachi had a good laugh when I sent him a Tweet of me in my Atlanta Legends Malachi Jones jersey sneaking in to represent the AAF during an XFL 2020 broadcast in H-Town.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
