Head Coach John Harbaugh started thinking about who his next offensive coordinator might be last Wednesday, shortly after the Denver Broncos' head coaching position opened, but before Gary Kubiak accepted it.
Harbaugh met with Trestman Monday afternoon, before he sat down with former Denver Broncos Offensive Coordinator Adam Gase that evening.
While Harbaugh said he was impressed with Gase, it didn't take him long to pick Trestman. Baltimore brought Trestman on board the very next day.
It was clear the two sides were eager to come together.
"We had a very good conversation," Trestman said Wednesday during an introductory conference call. "I felt a strong connection and I couldn't be more excited to be a Raven and be working with John."
Trestman had as many as seven teams that were reportedly interested in him, but declined to say why he didn't choose them. He simply talked about how strongly he felt about Baltimore.
For Harbaugh, it was a mixture of experience, flexibility and Trestman's personality that played into his decision.
Harbaugh and Trestman were previous acquaintances, as Harbaugh said he knew him from afar and saw his success. Harbaugh also knew of Trestman through his brother, Jim, who worked under Trestman in Oakland. Jim called Trestman a "mentor."
"Jim had a lot of respect for him," Harbaugh said. "I've always had a lot of respect for him personally. Watching what he's accomplished in his many years as a coach, it's just tremendous. So I knew what kind of a coach he was."
The 59-year-old Trestman has also worked in many different places and in many different roles during his more than three decades of coaching football. He's been a quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator and head coach both in Canada and the NFL, spending the past two years in Chicago.
"He brings a lot of experience to the table and that's a big plus for us," Harbaugh said.
In the end, what Harbaugh liked most about Trestman is that he can adapt and roll with the success the Ravens had last year. Trestman has worked in a variety of different systems, but his roots are in the same West Coast style the Ravens shifted to last offseason under Kubiak.
"The main thing is he's such a good fit for us going forward: his experience level, his background in this offense, the fact that he can take us exactly from where we're at offensively in terms of the terminology and the system that's in place and move it forward and build off of that," Harbaugh said.
"That was the determining factor."
Harbaugh said Trestman's personality jives with the leader of the offense, quarterback Joe Flacco. Trestman, who has earned the nickname "Quarterback Whisperer," has a laid-back but direct style of communication similar to Flacco.
"I think personality-wise, they're going to hit it off really well. They're both very smart, they're both very detailed and they're both very direct in their communication."
