"I talked with him that night and he told me,'You know, all the newspapers have me going hereor going there, but there's only one person whoknows where Tim Murphy is going and that's me, andI don't know where I'm going yet,'" Hamel said.

But, convening with his four captains yesterdaymorning, he broke the news, saying that he wouldmake the announcement in Cambridge today beforereturning to Cincinnati tomorrow to make theformal announcement at a 3:30 press conference.

"He was real nice about it, saying that he'sloved his stay at Cincinnati, but that it is justtime to move on," Dingell said.

Word spread from the captains to the rest ofthe team yesterday afternoon. Three of the fournon-captains contacted by the Crimson said theyhad heard the official news.

"The news spread pretty fast," junior defensivetackle Ernest Green said. "Most people--except forthose really worried about finals--know."

In general, the players were disappointed butunderstanding.

"I'm disappointed and I know a lot of peopleare really upset about it, but it's a greatopportunity for him," senior Ray Woodside said."I've had him for four years, and I know that he'sa tough, competitive coach who really cares abouthis players. He's pretty much all you could askfor in a head coach. You're always going to misssomeone like that."

"We certainly will miss him--he was a greatcoach--but he did what he had to do," Green said.

A big question is why Murphy "had to," or evenwould want to, go to Harvard.

According to The Globe, Murphy had a staff ofeight full-time assistants, a part-timer and twograduate assistants at Cincinnati. He had a basesalary of $111,996, a car, a $3,000 personalexpense budget, a $25,000 salary for his radio andtelevision shows, country club membership and freeuse of the college's facilities for a summer camp.

In addition, he could offer scholarships tooutstanding prep school players.

At Harvard, on the other hand, he will haveonly six full-time assistants, a part-timer and asecretary, and, while his Harvard salary isunknown, he will probably receive nowhere nearwhat he received at Cincinnati in terms of money,The Globe reported.

Most players speculated that Murphy wasmotivated by Harvard's prestige and its closeproximity to his family.

"Harvard's a great opportunity--no doubt,"sophomore tight end Michael Rafter said. "We'redisappointed to lose him, but Harvard would be atough place to turn down."

"I don't know exactly what he was thinking, butI imagine that he based his decision on Harvard'sprestige and the fact that he is from aroundthere," Dingle said. "All-around, I think it'sgoing to be a great situation for him.