He believed in winning with grace and losingwith dignity and determination.
That's what the Crimson did. Even backed up onhis own twenty yard-line with time expiring,quarterback Mike Giardi thought Harvard could win.
"I still felt we were going to win that game,even down to the last play," he said. "I think wewent out the way Coach wanted, fighting on bothsides of the ball."
A win for Restic would have been nice.
It would also have been cliche and formulaic,the stuff of schoolboy football stories likeStover at Yale.
Life is infinitely more complicated, ambiguous,ironic. It's losing sometimes when you most wantto win.
Restic didn't peddle fiction on his players.Just fundamentals: fairness, faith, humility,hope.
"You want to win, you play to win, that's thegame," Restic said. "When you don't, that's thetest. You've got to measure up. You've got to goprepare for the next one."
Restic faces Yale Coach Carm Cozza nextSaturday in New Haven in the last game of theHarvard coaching legend's career