Former NFL, CFL, XFL & NCAA Head Coach | Offensive Strategist | Quarterback Developer | Leadership Educator

Marc Trestman is one of football’s most experienced and respected coaches, with a career spanning more than five decades across the NFL, CFL, XFL, and college football.

Throughout his career, Marc has built a reputation as an innovative offensive strategist, quarterback developer, teacher, and leader. He has coached at the highest levels of the game, worked with elite quarterbacks, led championship teams, and helped shape football organizations from both the sideline and the meeting room.

Marc spent 25 years in the NFL, serving as a head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, and offensive assistant for organizations including the Chicago Bears, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

As Head Coach of the Chicago Bears, Marc led one of the NFL’s most productive offenses. His broader NFL career included extensive work developing quarterbacks and designing offensive systems around the strengths of his personnel.

Marc’s quarterback résumé is particularly notable. He worked with quarterbacks including Steve Young, Rich Gannon, Jake Plummer, Bernie Kosar, Scott Mitchell, Anthony Calvillo, and Ricky Ray. As offensive coordinator of the Oakland Raiders, Marc helped Rich Gannon earn NFL Most Valuable Player honors and helped lead the Raiders to Super Bowl XXXVII.

His success extended well beyond the NFL.

In the Canadian Football League, Marc became one of the most accomplished coaches of his era. As Head Coach of the Montreal Alouettes, he led the organization to back-to-back Grey Cup championships. He later guided the Toronto Argonauts to another Grey Cup title, giving him three Grey Cup championships as a head coach.

Marc was also named CFL Coach of the Year twice, further establishing his reputation as an outstanding leader, teacher, and program builder.

His coaching experience also includes leadership roles in the XFL and college football, giving him a rare perspective on how football organizations operate at multiple competitive levels.

More Than an Offensive Coach

Although Marc is widely known for offensive football and quarterback development, his teaching extends far beyond scheme.

His approach focuses on the complete football organization:

• Leadership and organizational culture

• Player development

• Quarterback development

• Practice structure and tempo

• Teaching and communication

• Staff development

• The relationship between coaches and personnel executives

• Preparing all three phases of a football team

• Building standards and accountability

• Game preparation

• The “First 15” offensive concept

• Managing players, staff, and personalities

• Developing future leaders

Marc believes successful football organizations are built when coaches, players, scouts, personnel staff, and front-office leaders understand how their roles fit together.

That perspective makes his teaching valuable not only to coaches, but also to scouts, general managers, player personnel professionals, football operations staff, analysts, and executives who want to better understand how a head coach views and leads an organization.

Leadership Educator and Author

Marc’s work as an educator extends beyond the football field.

He has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law, where he teaches leadership principles drawn from his experiences in professional sports, organizational management, and team building.

He is also an accomplished author.

His book, Perseverance: Life Lessons on Leadership and Teamwork, explores the lessons he has learned throughout his coaching and leadership career.

His newest book, Teaching the Game, is designed for high school, college, and professional coaches who want to continue evolving in the profession — including those aspiring to become head coaches.

In Teaching the Game, Marc breaks down the “science” of football into practical, understandable concepts that coaches, scouts, personnel executives, and football management professionals can use throughout the year — from offseason preparation and spring practice to training camp and weekly game preparation.

The book also provides football fans and business leaders with a deeper understanding of the leadership, teaching, communication, and organizational principles that shape successful teams.

Education and Professional Background

Marc holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law, an unusual background that has contributed to his thoughtful approach to leadership, communication, decision-making, and organizational structure.

His career has taken him from college football to the NFL, CFL, and XFL, giving him decades of firsthand experience working with players, coaches, scouts, executives, and front-office leaders.

Few football educators can offer the combination of:

NFL Head Coaching Experience • Championship Leadership • Quarterback Development • Offensive Strategy • Front-Office Perspective • Leadership Education

Learn From Marc Trestman Through SMWW

Marc serves as the lead mentor for Sports Management Worldwide’s Football Player Development & Strategy Course.

Students spend eight weeks learning directly from Marc and exploring how a head coach thinks about football organizations, including quarterback development, practice structure, culture, leadership, player development, coaching philosophy, all three phases of football, and the relationship between the head coach and general manager.

For coaches, scouts, personnel professionals, and football executives who want to better understand how successful football organizations are built and led, Marc provides something rare:

decades of experience at the highest levels of the game — shared directly with students in an interactive learning environment.

The book gives you Marc Trestman’s framework. The course gives you Marc Trestman.