"That was typical of the innovation he brought to football," says Donald Ignacio '72, the first football team captain under Restic. "It was really refreshing, very innovative and flexible."

The roots of the Multi-Flex grew out of the nine years Restic coached in the Canadian Football League before he came to Harvard. The CFL's rules--12 men on the field, three downs to go 10 yards and unlimited motion in the backfield--encouraged offensive imagination and crazy plays.

So when Restic came back to the stodgier American game, his ideas pushed the limit of the rulebook. Game officials had to be briefed before each game. (One referee commented that he had difficulty telling which receivers were eligible and which were not, but always gave Restic the benefit of the doubt.) In 1973, former Northeastern Coach Joe Zabilski called the Multi-Flex "the most imaginative offense around, the thing of the future."

He was right. The ideas Restic brought to the football 20 years ago are mainstream ideas today.

"I think there's been many changes in how football is played as a game today," Restic said. "When I first came here, I was talking about some single-back sets and no-back sets and people said, 'You can't do that!' and 'You can't play the game that way!' But you see a lot of it today. The single-back set. Opening up the spread sets. The exciting part of the game."

The NFL Calling

Restic could have ridden his New Age football into the NFL. In 1976, following the second of Harvard's five Ivy titles under Restic, the Philadelphia Eagles knocked on his door, holding out a multi-million dollar contract and the lure of coaching the team for which he had once played (number 82--check your 1953 roster). Restic nearly accepted the offer. The Eagles even called a press conference to announce his hiring. But the lack of talent in the Eagles organization scared him off.

Today, Restic's tactical mind isn't the hot commodity it once was. The splashy success of the '70s and early '80s has worn off as football has caught up to where Restic was 20 years ago. But although there have been other offers to move on, Restic says, he has always stayed at Harvard. Harvard is one of the few remaining schools in the nation with a football philosophy that matches his.

"Whether you win or lose, you do it in a class way," Restic said in 1989. "That's what I've always tried to teach here, because that's what playing football is all about. I think that's what coaching is all about, also."

"If I wanted to have the best record in the country--the best--I would be at a school where I felt I could do the most in the recruiting area, have a big budget to take care of that, and do everything I could to win that football game," Restic said.

"Would I be at Harvard? No."

Restic's personal philosophies can only be called conservative. "I believe the family comes first," Restic told The Boston Globe in 1974. "That's the base. Then I have strong religious beliefs and I love my country."

During World War II, Restic's language skills helped him get a job with the OSS interrogating prisoners. He was 17.

As a football coach, Restic sees himself as the father to his players, using football to mold his kids into strong individuals. Football, Restic says, instills teamwork, loyalty, dedication, self-discipline, sacrifice, unselfishness, determination and hard work.

"If that's not what we're talking about, then we're talking about making money, building a program, sacrificing people," Restic says.