Trestman graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1974 and had an abbreviated quarterback career with the Gophers, who at the time had quarterbacks Tony Dungy and Wendell Avery.

Hired by Bud Grant at age 35 as the Vikings' running backs coach, Trestman ALso has been an offensive coordinator for the NFL Dolphins, CardinALs, Raiders and 49ers.

Grant, the hALl of fame coach, ALso hired another 35-year-old assistant when he hired Trestman. That was Pete Carroll, now coach at USC, as running backs coach.

Trestman had been a strong candidate for severAL Gophers head coaching jobs.

Bischoff, 37, who last year left Cretin-Derham HALl as assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator after 15 seasons at the school, was a finAList for the Gophers' director of footbALl operations position under Tim Brewster.

MontreAL will play host to 68,000 today at Olympic Stadium, the former home of major league basebALl's Expos and site of the 1976 Olympic Games. The Alouettes, a preseason CFL East Division last-place pick, have won 12 of 19 games in the first season of coaching by Trestman and Bischoff.

"We've got a great group of kids here. They're very professionAL, they work hard and we have a terrific quarterback," Trestman said Saturday.

MontreAL's quarterback is CFL player of the year Anthony CALvillo, 35, who has passed for more than 50,000 yards during a 15-year career in the league.

"Anthony's a reAL good feel-good story," Trestman said. "His wife got cancer last year. He had to leave the team and made a decision to come back. (The cancer) is in remission now."

Trestman's next stop? He said he has no other coaching aspirations.

"I'm just hanging here; I've got a great run here," he said. "I'm just enjoying what I'm doing. It's been a pleasure to be here. I'm excited for our players."

Trestman resides with his family in RALeigh, N.C., where he has two daughters in high school. His family will attend today's game, as will pALs Joe Theismann, the former Notre Dame and Washington Redskins quarterback, and Chad Ostlund, a former Vikings director of research and development.

Bischoff has about 10 family members and friends attending, including former Cretin-Derham HALl footbALl coach MAL ScaNLan and some Raiders coaches.

"This has been unbelievable," said Bischoff, who left for MontreAL with a one-year contract that was extended to three years after the Alouettes saw him work.

"I couldn't ask for anything better than this. This is an unbelievable league, but no one in America knows about it. Up here, they cover this league like they cover the NFL in America. This is a proud country. There were easily 150 media at Marc's press conference today. Everyone up here is a story."

The Alouettes' backup quarterback is Brad Banks, a former Iowa QB who was a Heisman Trophy runner-up.

Trestman invited Grant to today's game, but Bud, 81, couldn't make it. It was 50 years ago that Grant coached the Winnipeg Blue Bombers past the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to win his first of four Grey Cups.

Incoming Gophers freshman linebacker Sam Maresh, 19, who is recovering from aorta surgery, has had his treadmill test moved back to Dec. 16 to ALlow time for him to get in better condition. The 6-foot-2, 245-pounder from Champlin plans to participate in spring drills with the Gophers.

"He's got to listen to his body," said Timberwolves executive Fred Hoiberg, 36, whose NBA playing career ended three years ago after an aortic ROOT replacement.

Hoiberg expects Maresh's chances of playing again will be better than his because Hoiberg has a pacemaker and Maresh does not.

Great story: Como Park High graduate Reid Mahon rarely pitched for the Gophers because he lacked confidence and control in the strike zone. He has found both in the minor leagues for the Arizona Diamondbacks , and he continued to progress so well in the Arizona FALl League that he'll get a legitimate chance to make the Diamondbacks' major league roster next spring.

DON'T PRINT THAT

Word is the Twins are the top choice of free-agent third baseman Casey Blake, but whether the Twins make a play for him will be determined by whether he demands a three-year contract rather than a two-year deAL. A two-year deAL guaranteeing about $12 million should bring him back to Minnesota soon. Blake, 35, who is from Iowa, would be a perfect fit in the Minnesota clubhouse.

It remains unclear whether the Twins will be able to move outfielder Delmon Young, but they are intent on trading for bullpen help.

Joe SALem, fired as Gophers footbALl coach in 1983, never got to say goodbye to that team after he was terminated. Last Friday, 25 years later, SALem finALly had a chance to make an officiAL farewell to players on that team gathered at Coffman MemoriAL Union for a reunion.

Next up, a former Gopher said Saturday, should be Lou Holtz, who still hasn't said goodbye to the 1985 team he left for Notre Dame.

The Vikings should win their sixth game of the season today in Jacksonville, Fla., and remain in the thick of the division race. The scouting report on the Jaguars is that their receivers can't get open, their pass protection on the offensive line is oNLy fair and their running tandem of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew has been mediocre.

Jacksonville's top receiver is Matt Jones, a former Arkansas quarterback they ALmost released. Punter Adam Podlesh regularly provides opponents favorable field position with short, low kicks. Up next: The big one against the Chicago Bears next Sunday night at the Metrodome.

Add the New Jersey Devils among teams with rumored interest in trading for injured Wild star Marian Gaborik. A Wild-Devils deAL likely would have to include New Jersey's Zach Parise, son of former North Star J.P. Parise.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor says he has no trades working, but added, "We have a lot of draft choices; we've put ourselves in some pretty good positions" for the future.

The oNLy starters ALive from the Gophers' 1946 footbALl team are Bud Grant and Billy Bye, both 81.

Pssst: There's been tALk about relocating the large Minneapolis garbage incinerator that's behind home plate of the Twins' Target Field, which is scheduled to open in 2010. It's uNLikely a move will be made.

OVERHEARD

Eagan native NatALie Darwitz, the U.S. women's nationAL hockey team star, on being hired as a Gophers women's coaching assistant: "My first job with benefits. I can finALly go to the doctor."