Just 10 seconds into Tim Murphy's opening comments at a press conference announcing his hiring as the 30th football coach in Harvard history yesterday afternoon, those in attendance realized that a new era had dawned in Harvard football.

The tall, solid 37-year-old walked up to the podium after being introduced by Athletic Director Bill Cleary '56, smiled and leveled his voice into the microphone.

"I know why they hired me," Murphy said. "I was at Maine and Boston University before, and they both won hockey championships. And, besides that, I'm Irish."

It was a good joke, eliciting a chuckle from the audience. But even more, it was symbolic: gone were the staid, pedantic sermons of the aging Joe Restic, and in were the Leno-like one-liners of a young, vibrant coach on the rise.

Yesterday, Murphy officially took control of the Harvard football program, becoming only its fourth coach since 1950. Previously, Murphy coached at the University of Cincinnati for five years.

"I just felt Harvard was a unique opportunity that wasn't going to come along again for another 20 years," Murphy said. "The reason I coach is the reason most guys play in the Ivy League--for the love of the game."

At Cincinnati, Murphy led the Bearcats to an 8-3 record this season, their first winning season since 1982, and was one of only 20 Division I-A schools to graduate 70 percent of its recruiting class.

A native of Kingston, Mass., Murphy coached at Division I-AA Maine for four years before moving on to Cincinnati. Previously, he spent six years in assistant positions at Brown, Lafayette and Boston University. Murphy graduated from Springfield College in 1974.

Although Murphy said he will take a 40 percent pay cut to coach here, the chance was too good to pass up.

"Money's great, but it's not why I'm in this business," Murphy said. "When was an assistant at Brown, I worked nights and earned $800 a month so I could coach days. I don't think I can adequately express why I feel comfortable here. It's just a unique opportunity."

"We are delighted to get a person of the quality of Tim Murphy to come and be our coach," Cleary said. "Tim possesses the background and represents the values that we felt were important in out new coach, and considers football a valuable experience in the total educational process."

Players on the Harvard football team echoed those sentiments.

"I'm pretty excited about him," junior center Toby Brundage said. "He met with us earlier and it seems like he really wants to rebuild. He's really enthusiastic."

At the Conference

Cleary set the stage for the coach's speech with an enthusiastic introduction.