Ex-Bears HC Marc Trestman Hired as Head Coach, GM of XFL's Tampa Bay Franchise

XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck announced former Chicago Bears head coach Marc Trestman as the new coach and general manager of the league's Tampa Bay franchise Tuesday.

Trestman most recently served as coach of the CFL's Toronto Argonauts. He led the Argos to a Grey Cup championship in 2017 and won back-to-back CFL titles with the Montreal Alouettes in 2009 and 2010.

The 63-year-old Minnesota native was hired by the Bears in January 2013. He guided the team to an 8-8 record in his first year in charge, with Chicago ranking second in scoring offense that season, but he was fired after the team posted a 5-11 mark in 2014.

Trestman went 72-54 in seven seasons as a CFL head coach, and his teams qualified for the playoffs six times and made four Grey Cup appearances. The lone exception was last season, when Toronto finished 4-14.

In all, the former college quarterback owns nearly four decades of coaching experience at the professional and collegiate levels, mostly as an offensive assistant or a coordinator.

"I'm excited to be in Tampa; I started my coaching career here in Florida working for coach [Howard] Schnellenberger, where he found something in me that I never really saw in myself as a young UM law student, and then on with Jimmy Johnson," Trestman told reporters as his introductory press conference Tuesday. "Both men taught me a lot about life and a lot about the game as I got going in my career."

He joins Bob Stoops (Dallas), Jim Zorn (Seattle) and Pep Hamilton (Washington, D.C.) as head coaches named for the rebooting XFL. Houston, Los Angeles, New York and St. Louis remain without coaches.

The league is expected to begin play in 2020.