Trestman, an assistant with eight NFL teams over 17 years, replaces Jim Popp, who gave up his coaching duties but will remain as the team's general manager. Montreal went 8-10 last season, its first losing campaign since 1996.

Trestman was the offensive coordinator at North Carolina State the past two seasons, and prior to that was the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals and Oakland Raiders.

"We feel very confident that we have made the ideal choice for the future of our franchise," said Alouettes president Larry Smith, noting he chose Trestman from a list of 10 candidates. "We believe he will be able to bring great leadership skills and knowledge to our league and take the Alouettes back to the standard to which our fans are accustomed, and to our ultimate objective which is the Grey Cup."

At Oakland, he helped the Raiders reach the Super Bowl after the 2002 season, the year Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon won the league's MVP award. He also worked with Steve Young and Jerry Rice when he was with the 49ers.