DENNIS CURRAN, J.D. ’75, NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE GENERAL COUNSEL
Dennis Curran, J.D. ’75, you can take the man out of Boston but…
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ever, ever call a Bostonian living in New York a New Yorker. “That is just insulting,” said Dennis Curran. If throwing someone off his or her stride is a negotiating tactic, it’s no wonder that National Football League General Counsel Dennis Curran is a master negotiator. And Curran, J.D. ’75, is a master. In 1987 Curran was attempting to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with NFL players when the union declared a strike. In response, the league brought in a full roster of replacement players for one week to continue the season. In three weeks’ time, the strike was broken. The strike provided fodder for the 2000
comedy film The Replacements with Gene Hackman and Keanu Reeves as coach and quarterback. “Although we don’t like to emphasize the wartime aspects of the job,” he said, “replacing a League’s entire professional workforce was a major labor relations accomplishment that had never been done in sports—before or since.” Another tactic, a lockout, was successfully used in 2011 when the NFL and the NFLPA were unable to reach agreement at the expiration of their Collective Bargaining Agreement. Those instances aside, the silverhaired Senior Vice President of Labor Litigation and Policy for the NFL Management Council has spent 35 years successfully negotiating and administering collective bargaining agreements with the NFL Players Association, representing the clubs and the league and overseeing any playerclub grievances and labor-related lawsuits.
BEY ON D TR A DIT IO N | FE A TUR E STO RIE S
MARC TRESTMAN WITH ROOKIE QB JERRY LOVELOCKE I photo by Shawn Hubbard
school, first under Schnellenberger, then under Jimmy Johnson. In 1983, as quarterbacks coach, Bernie Kosar passed for 2,329 yards, a school record, and the team won the national championship. The young coach took the skills he learned at Miami Law and has applied them to a career of coaching. He has been everything from offensive coordinator for the North Carolina State Wolfpacks to head coach of the Chicago Bears, where in 2012 he was one of only four head coaches to win his first game and one of only three to win his first two games—then the only coach since 1956 to win eight games in his first year coaching the franchise. “Although I believe going to law school is primarily for those who want to be lawyers, it is undeniable that the discipline, work ethic, skill set, and perseverance necessary for getting through law school is transferable to any profession including coaching,” said Trestman, who is currently the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. “Law school certainly laid the foundation for my growth and acceleration into a professional football coach.”
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