"Why didn't you take it?"

"You have a copy of my bio, don't you?" heasks. Point taken.

When Joe Restic came to Harvard in the fall of1971, he had the intention of lighting a fireunder the seat of John Harvard's pants.

Restic's predecessor, John Yovicsin, hadrescued Harvard football from the depths ofdespondency in the late 1950's by reorganizing italong conservative lines. Influenced by the likesof Woody Hayes and Vince Lombardi, he instilled asimple off-tackle left, off-tackle right,third-down-and-a-long-pass-to-a-receiver type ofoffense. And it worked: Harvard had just fourlosing seasons in 14 years and Yovicsonestablished himself as the winningest coach inHarvard history.

But Restic thought the Crimson could do better.From Canadian football--with its longer and widerfield, three-down concept and 12th man--Resticbrought a riskier, wider-open offense. He calledit the "Multi-Flex."

The Multi-Flex is an offensive festival. Runcorrectly, usually by a highly experiencedquarterback, it is one of the most excitingoffenses ever created.

The term "Multi-Flex" is simply the conflationof the words "multiple set" and "flexibility."Simplified, it is the philosophy that the more ateam moves around and switches offensive setsbefore snapping the ball and the more wide-openthe number of plays a team can run, the moreconservative and tentative the defense.

"The offense should be the aggressor," Restictold the Louisville Times in 1977. "You have tocome out and confuse them, make them hesitate."

In Harvard's Multi-Flex, the Crimson usuallystarts in a full-house T formation and then shiftsto another formation. Over the years, Harvard hasrun zero-back, single-back, double-back, andthree-back sets in such varying formations as thefull-house T, the power I, the solid I and thewishbone.

In all, the formation is geared toward givingthe Crimson the advantage against teams equal oronly slightly more talented.

"If you have superior personnel, you'll beat meno matter what offensive I use," he told TheTimes. "But if we are equal or if you are only alittle better, I will beat you with theMulti-Flex. I think that's the edge."

For the first few years of his tenure atHarvard, Restic struggled to implement thecomplicated offense. In 1971, the Crimson went anaverage 5-4, and in 1972 Harvard went a meager4-4-1 and lost to Yale, 28-7. Both years theCrimson finished closer to the bottom than to thetop in the Ivies.

Then things started to click. In 1973, theCrimson went 7-2 and flew from fifth to second inthe league. In 1974, Restic took a team picked tofinish in the middle of the Ivies and directed itto an Ivy co-championship--and a win over Yale.And in 1975 the Crimson won an undisputed Ivycrown.

Restic was rolling--his teams had wonback-to-back league titles, he had wonback-to-back league Coach of the Year prizes andhis teams were winning with offensive panache. The1973 team set a new Harvard record for passes andcompletions. The 1974 team set a new Harvardrecord for touchdown passes. And the 1975 team seta new total offense record with 3,370 yards.

After that season, with his value rising,Restic realized a college coach's dream: hereceived a head coaching offer in the NFL withsame team he had played for over 20 yearsbefore--the Philadelphia Eagles. After their topchoice for the job, Frank Kush of then-nationalchampion Arizona State, opted to stay at thecollege level, the Eagles went to Restic in thehopes of reviving their hapless offense.