"Character-building is all right in high school, but when you get to the pros, winning is the only thing," said Mike Holovak, coach of the Boston Patriots, who lost the season's decisive game last fall.

Of that final game of the season, which gave the Jets the Eastern division title, Holovak told a crowd at Lowell House last night that he would "say a little, damn little!"

The tall Pennsylvanian Czech blamed his defense for that poor performance. The coach made his point by asking, "Can anybody here play cornerback?" He conceded, however, that his defenders were up against the man with "the greatest arm ever" in the Jets' quarterback Joe Namath.

Holovak claimed that the difference between Big Ten schools and colleges like Harvard is the number of big, talented linemen. A former fullback, he surmised that the linemen just aren't smart enough to get into the Ivies.

"But there is no reason why an Ivy athlete couldn't make it in the pros. In fact, we're interested in drafting Harvard's Bobby Leo and Dave Davis." Although concerned about the relatively small stature of the Harvard candidates, he affirmed that he "would not trade size for talent."

Holovak's audience enjoyed an unexpected treat, the first Boston showing of "Champions Without a Crown," the Pats' 1966 highlights. If Holovak does not produce the Crown in 1967 as he predicted last night, like his college roommate who got engaged, he may be heard singing, "I'll never smile again."